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CONCORD 



HISTORIC LITERARY AND 
PICTURESOUE 



FIFTEENTH EDITION ~%EyiSED 



JiOf C0«,;„, 



..^*'oof^" 



BY 



^IJL p 1895 



GEORGE B. BARTLETT xC''Of w.^^ 



"^7796-0^ ' 



With Map and Illlstkations, and a Fi'll Index 



BOSTON 

LOTHROP PUBLISHING COMPANY 

1895 



\\ 



Copyright, 1S85, 1S9S, 

by 
George B. Bartlett. 



r 



i:n'troduction. 



Thaxks are due to George Parsons Lathrop and Mrs. Kose Haw- 
thorne Lathrop for accounts of Mr. Hawthorne's home; to Miss 
:\Iunroe for lier Memoir of the Founder of the Library ; to Mrs. W. 
S. Robinson for lier ^iemoir of '• Warrington ; "' to Mr. A. Munroe 
for the history of tlie Library, and the Water Supply; to Mr. 
8. R. Bartlett for the sketch of Daniel Chester French. 

Full credit also should be given to Rev. G. Reynolds, and to 
F. B. Sanborn, Esq., for quotations from their writings, as well as 
to Shattuck's History, the Diary of Rev. Wm. Emerson, and the 
Pamphlets of Rev. Dr. Ripley and others. All the verse in the 
volume, with the exception of Mr. Sanborn's Ode in the first chap- 
ter, was written by the author of this book. 

The success which this book has met with alu'oad and at home 
has encouraged its author to write it up to the present time, and to 
give plain directions by which the tourist can easily find his way 
to the various objects of interest which have been already described 
at length. 

CoxcoRD, Mass. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER ', PAGE 

I. The Railkoai) Thif" to CoxcoKn 9 

II. Eahly IIist«)i;v. Cm kciies, and Birying-Ghounds . . 26 

in. The Battle (iHoixD 45 

ly. lk>i sEs OF Historical Interest 54 

y. The Tablets and how to reach Them 67 

y\. HocsES oE Litei;arv Interest 77 

VII. The Free Pcblic Library 129 

VII 1. The Monuments 1S8 

IX. The Studio and the Antiquarian Society 146 

X. Various Organizations 151 

XL Lake Walden 166 

^n. The River and its Surroundings 173 

Index ! .... 197 

7 



THE CONCORD GUIDE BOOK. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE KAILROAD TRIP TO CONCORD. 

Trains for Concord, Mass., leave the Union Station on 
Causeway street many times during each day, and two or three 
times on Sunday, by way of the Fitchburg, and Boston and 
Maine Railroads. We will go out by the former route, and re- 
turn by the latter, noting rapidly some of the points of interest 
as we pass them. At Charlestown we pass under the shadow 
of Bunker Hill jVIonument, which is plainly visible at the right. 
The Massachusetts State Prison and McLean Asylum for the 
insane are also partially in view, and Lechmere Point at East 
Cambridge calls to mind the midnight ride of Paul Revere, and 

9 



lo THE CO A CORD GUIDE BOOK. 

the landing of the British troops on their ill-fated journey to 
our place of destination. Within a short distance on the left 
is the famous powder-house which aroused so much interest in 
the minds of antiquarians. The extensive brick-yards, the step- 
mothers of old Boston, soon give place to the fruitful gardens 
of Belmont which supply it with fresh vegetables and berries ; 
and from Cambridge Station, Harvard College, the Washington 
elm, and Mt. Auburn can be easily reached by a short ride in 
the electric cars. At the right Avas the site of Porter's Tavern, 
the scene of so many convivial suppers of the students of old 
Harvard. After leaving the line country seats of Belmont, we 
soon come to Waverley Station, from which a short walk toward 
the right brings us to the Middlesex Fells and Waverley Oaks, 
which are supposed to have been standing when Columbus 
visited America. In a few moments the train reaches Wal- 
tham, passing close to one of the earliest cotton-mills on the 
left of the track, beyond which the extensive works of the 
Waltham watch-factory can be seen across Charles Biver Avitli 
its great flotilla of canoes and pleasure boats. Leaving Wal- 
tham, Prospect Hill is seen upon the right ; and two miles 
farther on at the left is Norumbega Tower, built by Professor 
Horsford in commemoration of a visit of the Norsemen. This 
interesting tower and ancient ditch are within easy walking 
distance of Robert's Station ; for further particulars of this 
famous spot, see the ver}^ remarkable pamphlets of the late 
Professor Horsford, whose munificent gifts to Wellesley College, 
and frequent contributions to the literature of the past, will 
make his name honored alike by scholar and savant. 



THE RAILROAD TRIP TO CONCORD. 1 1 

The romantic Stony Brook Station is the next on the railroad, 
which is near some of the oldest estates in Massachusetts, and 
a mile farther on is Kendall Green, l)oth bordering on the 
ancient town of Weston. A short distance up the track are 
the Hastings Organ Works, which give employment to many 
workmen, Avho manufacture a large quantity of musical instru- 
ments every year. After passing Lincoln Station, the old 
Codman estate stands near the track on the left. This ancient 
mansion has been tlie home of many distinguished families, 
and the scene of much old-time hospitality ; its high hall and 
beautiful staircase have few equals in America, and it stands 
in one of the o-reat ag^ricultural centres of Massacliusetts. Two 
miles from Lincohi Station on the right is Walden Pond, fully 
described in this book, a fine view of which can be liad from 
the railroad track, and where several trains stop during the 
summer season. Tlie town of Concord is a mile distant. 

Returning from Concord to Boston by the Boston and 
Maine R. R., the station is on Lowell street near the Square, 
from the platform of which station a view of the Minute Man 
and Old Manse can be seen in spring, fall, and winter when 
the leaves are off the trees. If it is desirable to extend the 
journey a couple of miles farther into the country, from the 
cars several little glimpses of the beautiful Assabet River can 
be had before they stop at the end of the route opposite the 
Massachusetts Reformatory, which under the charge of Super- 
intendent Scott and his deputy, Mr. Hart, is indeed in every 
respect a model institution. Over one thousand men and boys 
are subjected to all the influences for good which the modern 
system can furnish. 



12 THE CONCORD GUIDE BOOK. 

Trades of all sorts are taught by competent instructors, 
literary clul)s are formed, a news2)aper is conducted and printed 
with great al)ility. Religious services are held to suit the 
creeds of all, and on Sunday afternoons tlie veiy l)est talent 
that can be secured from far and near entertain the first grade 
men to the best of their ability. The inmates are taught self- 
respect, and many leave there well prepared to abandon the 
error of their ways and make good citizens. This institution 
occupies a part of the ground of Gen. Banks's camp of ten 
thousand militia, which did so much by its drill and preparation 
to save Washington in 1861. 

On leaving Concord the train crosses Monument street, which 
leads to the battle-field, and then skirts the Great Fields, Avhich 
Thoreau used to search for an abundant harvest of arrow-heads ; 
and on the left may be seen the broad meadows of the river, 
which attracted the red and white settlers to the place. Copan 
and other points which Thoreau loved to visit and write al)out 
can be seen as the train dashes past on the way to Bedford, and 
a fine view of Ball's Hill and the river, Avhich are fully de- 
scribed in another place. The minute-men, after their victory 
at the bridge, followed a portion of this route on their Avay to 
the fight at Merriam's Corner. Many tourists in barges and on 
foot take the great road to Lexington if they wish to follow the 
track of the flying British. The citizens of Lexington have 
marked the most important places with descriptive tablets, 
showing where the enemy tried in vain to make a stand, and 
the well at which each one of the combatants fell in single 
combat. If they continue on the railroad route, a branch of the 



THE RAILROAD TRIP TO CONCORD. 13 

Shady Hill Nursery is close to the track upon the left, and the 
village of Bedford is perched upon a hill a mile farther on. 

At Bedford Station connection is made with Billerica and 
Lowell by a train which stops at Bedford Springs, about a mile 
distant. Here is an excellent hotel, filled each summer with a 
refined and quiet company, many of whom pass every summer 
in this quiet and lovely spot ; the proprietor of liedford Springs 
has also near by extensive laboratories for the preparation of 
Viburnum, an efficacious panacea for many ills. A few miles 
beyond Bedford, lies the beautiful and historic town of Lexing- 
ton. Many of tlie chief points of interest are very near the 
railroad station. Turning to the right, the famous Lexington 
Common is but a few rods distant, at the upper end of which a 
handsome tablet bearing an open book shows the site of the 
famous church, and gives the names of its more famous minis- 
ters ; close to this is the elm-tree planted by Gen. Grant in 
1875, when this famous veteran came to pay his tribute of re- 
spect to the heroes of 1775. At the right, another tablet marks 
the place Avhere Capt. Parker and his gallant company of 
eighty men defied the trained forces of King George with all 
England behind them. On the opposite side of the Green is 
the monument to the heroes of ''that ever glorious day," and a 
few rods farther up the road towards Concord is the burial- 
ground where patriot soldiers sleep in peace by the side of 
many of their gallant townsmen. On the road towards Bedford, 
still stands the house of Rev. Mr. Clark, the patriot preacher 
wlio entertained Hancock, Adams, and the beautiful Dorothy Q. 
on the night before the battle. Walking up toward Boston, the 



THE RAILROAD TRIP TO COiVCORD. 17 

The Library is about one-eighth of a mile below, on the same 
side of the street. Since the publication of the description, the 
number of volumes has increased to about twenty -four thousand ; 
and several new objects of art have been added, especially a fine 
bust of Miss Alcott by Walton Ricketson, which has the unquali- 
fied approbation of her relatives and friends. Nearly opposite, 
on the other side of the street, is the on-avevard, the oldest stone 
in which is that of Thomas Hartshorn, who died in 1697, which 
is in plain view from the entrance, as is also a stone with a 
quaint inscription which stands near the fence at the right. 
Adjoining this is the house, part of which is supposed to have 
been used for a Ijlock-house in 1675. The Square is plainly to 
be seen, with the Soldiers' ^lonument in the centre, nearly in 
front of which is a tablet showing the site of the town-house 
which the British attempted to burn in 177o. At the right of 
the Monument, is the building from whicli the provincial stores 
were taken and destroyed, adjoining which is the Thoreau House 
where tlie travellers will always find the best of accommodation, 
and a cordial welcome from the courteous host, wlio has made 
the house so attractive that many people from distant cities 
have made it a pei-manent home. P^rom tins liouse the sidewalk 
on the left of the street leads directly to the Manse and Battle- 
field, which are half a mile distant. Nearly opposite the Manse, 
is the liouse which has the bullet-hole near the door ni the L. 
The bridofe which crosses the river between the two monuments 
has been built within a few 3'ears to take the place of the more 
ornamental structure which was destroyed l)y the ice. 

On leaving the Battle-field, keep to the left over the stone 



1 8 THE CONCORD GUIDE BOOK. 

bridge which commands a view of the farm of Minot Pratt, 
which is situated on the left bank of tlie river at its first bend. 
Taking Liberty street, the first turn of the road to the left, the 
first house on the right is the one where Major Buttrick lived, 
who led the minute-men to the bridge ; and still keeping to the 
left, the crest of the liill where the minute-men formed is marked 
by an inscription on the wall by the roadside. 

Turning to the left, at the foot of the hill is the wooden bridge, 
from which the junction of the Sudbury and Assabet, marked by 
a tablet on Ecra Rock, is seen a short distance ui) the river. 
Keeping on up Lowell street, at the second house on the left is 
the bronze tablet wliicii maiks tlie site of the liouse of Rev. Peter 
Rulkley, where the purcliase of the town from tlie Lulians was 
so amicably made, which is bnt a few rods fi-om tlie Square and 
Soldiers' ]Monument. On the upper side of the Square stands 
the buildiuQ" once used as a Court House, next to which is the 
present town-house with the historic elm in fi'oiit. The street 
at the left of tlie town-house leads to Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, 
passing along tlie side of which you enter at the new gateway 
presented by William AL Prichard, Esq., in 1891, and walk a 
shoi't distance to tlie summer-house, in front of which across the 
hollow is the hill, the ci'est of whicli is marked by Ridge Path, 
on which the crraves of Hawtliorne, 'J'horeau, the Alcotts, and 
Emersons are situated. Returning to the Square, turn to the 
left past the Catholic Church, next to which is the Burving Hill, 
where a plain path leads to the summit and the oldest grave- 
stone in town, that of Joseph Merriam, behind which, at the foot 
of the hill, is the stone of John Jack, whose grave is usually 



THE RAILROAD TRIP TO COiVCORD. 19 

covered with lilies. Returning to the path, keep along the top 
of the hill to the little powder-house, near Avhicli are the graves 
of iVlajor Buttrick and his family, and the tombs of the Rev. 
Messrs. Bliss and Emerson. At the foot of the hill, on the 
side toward the villasfe behind the stone house, is the stone 
of Col. Barrett ; and most of the other remarkable graves are 
situated between this and the entrance gate, or nearly on the 
same line. Some of the memorial verses Avhich appear upon 
tliese gravestones are very interesting, both to the antiquarian 
and the poet, as they are quoted from the autliors of th.e time, 
when not original with the members of the family. One of the 
best of these poems is from tlie pen of Wesley, a l)rother of 
the preacher, who published a volnme al)ont the year ir)00. Tlie 
same verses were found in 1882 on a placard hanging to the 
marble monument of the Princess Sophia, daughter of James I., 
who was buried in Westminster Abbey in 1667. 

Directly opposite the graveyard are the Wright Tavern and 
the Unitarian Clnirch. in front of which stands a new tablet to 
commemorate the meeting of the Continental Congress. The 
sidewalk on the opposite side of the street leads directly to the 
School of Philosophy building, about half a mile in an easterly 
direction, the last meeting in which was the memorial to Mr. 
Alcott, one of its founders and chief supporters. On pursuing 
this journey several old houses are passed, one of which, occu- 
pied by Captain Brown in the Revolution, is plainly marked as 
the Antiquarian Society's headquarters ; and the next is tlie 
former home of Jolni Beaton, one of the oldest in town. 

The home of Emerson is the first house on the opposite side 



20 THE CONCORD GUIDE BOOK. 

of the road. The Orchard House, which the Alcotts occupied 
for so many years, is in the same enclosure as the School of 
Philosophy ; and the Wayside, where Hawthorne lived after his 
return from Europe, is the next house on the left. The hill 
behind Wayside seems to have been a favorite literary resort ; 
for besides Hawthorne's Walk, represented in the picture, many 
of the winding wood paths were trod by the Alcott children in 
their romantic rambles. They climbed the steep sides of the 
hill, personating little Pilgrims laden with heavy packs, which 
they gladly cast off as they entered the Celestial City, repre- 
sented to their romantic imaginations by a small pond, which 
reflected the beautiful scenery at the other side of the Hill 
Difhculty. In the deep shadow the Giant Despair lay in wait 
for his trembling victims, when the Little AVomen were in 
their earh^ youth. 

Some of the famous theatricals mentioned in the '■'Journal " 
and other l)ooks were acted in the ])arn which stands near the 
eastern end of the Wayside. 

The original Concord grapevine still flourishes in the next gar- 
den, under the care of its great originator, E. W. Bull., Esq- 
From this parent vine the fruit has been so widely spread that 
it may well be called the grape "shot round tlie Avorld." 

Three-quarters of a mile below is Merriam's Corner, which is 
properly marked with a tablet ; for it was the scene of the sharp- 
est fighting wliich took place in the town limits, wlien Gov. 
Brooks with his company joined the Concord men who had 
crossed over the great fields to attack the British upon their 
return to Boston ; for the road which has just been traversed 




Thoreau's Cove at Waiden Pond. 




The Old Well, where the British drank, near the 
Barrett House. 



THE RAILROAD TRIP TO COACORD. 21 

was the very same up which ]\Iajor Pitcaini led his Hessians 
from Lexing'ton Common to the old North Brids^e. Near this 
corner stands the old Merriam house, which bears about the 
same external appearance as it did upon the nineteenth of April, 
1775, when its quiet was broken by the sounds of war; and the 
same remark may be made as to many of the houses along the 
road between here and the village, which have been already 
fully described in the article on houses of historical interest. 

On returning to the village, the first road turning to the left 
above Mr. Emerson's house leads, behind his famous garden, 
past the Poor Farm, to Walden Pond. Ascending the steep hill, 
the first road to the right leads directly to the Picnic ground, 
and the second, which turns to the right at the telegraph-pole, 
takes one to the tall pines back of Thoreau's grove. These 
trees are in plain sight from the main road ; and under them is 
a well-worn path which turns to the left, directly to the site of 
Thoreau's hut, now marked by a pile of stones. 

The Pond, which he loved and immortalized, is in front of 
this cairn, to which every visitor adds a stone, before walking 
down to the edge of the Pond to enjoy the unbroken solitude, 
if fortunate enough to escape a picnic. If a student of Thoreau, 
on his return to the main road he can keep to the right for 
twenty rods along it, to see the orchard which Thoreau planted 
with pine-cones in straight lines ; and the ancient cellars of 
which he writes may still be distinguished. 

Thoreau street extends from Walden to the Fitchburg Station, 
the point from which this imaginary journey sets forth. Hub- 
bard street crosses Thoreau street ; and very near the junction 



22 THE CONCORD GUIDE BOOK. 

of these streets, upon the former, are the schoolhouses men- 
tioned in this book, and also the Ripley School, named for Dr. 
Ezra Ripley. Behind this building is the new playground and 
trainincr-field for the free use of the bovs and the militia. 
About four acres in extent, the greater part of this enclosure is 
protected by tlie deed of the givers from the encroachment of 
any statues, gravel paths, or anything which could in any way 
convert it into a park, or interfere with the original use. Mr. 
Emerson was interested in the idea of a public playground, and 
from time to time devoted small sums to this purpose, which 
formed the nucleus of tlie necessary endowment. 

Among the improvements made since the first edition of 
this book was printed is Nashawtuck avenue, which begins at 
Main street opposite the end of Thoreau street, crosses the 
Nashawtuck Bridge, and ends at the top of the liill from which 
they take their name. 

So many events have happened upon this hill, according to 
its historian, that the " History of a Concord Farm " which 
relates them is of absorbing interest. At present the new 
reservoir of the Concoixl water-works and Willard Common 
crown its summit, from wliich a fine view is to be had of the 
two rivers, the village and its surrounding hills, and of the fine 
estate which is half-way up tlie southern slope. 

The proprietor of Nashawtuck does not propose to make of 
it tlie site of a town boom or land speculation ; on the contrary, 
he hopes to preserve and use most of it as a farm, perhaps sell- 
ing the Hurd residence, and removing from its vicinity to a 
more central position the barn and outbuildings. 



THE RAILROAD TRIP TO CONCORD. 23 

At the same time he does not feel warranted in excluding the 
whole of it, especially the hill portion, from such use for resi- 
dent purposes as its location and natural beauty may create a 
demand for; and to best adapt it for such purposes, he wishes 
to direct or inspire its laying out and improvement by the 
proper location, construction, and planting of ways ; also by 
liberal allowances of space, and a general regard for landscape 
effects Avithout losing its rural aspects. 

Another most important improvement to the town is a school 
for boys, — the Concord Home School, founded and conducted 
by Mr. James S. Garland, a Harvard man, Avho has brought to 
his work in Concord the spirit of progress and enterprise. 

The school is situated on the old Wood estate — seventy-five 
acres of beautiful upland on the west side of the Sudbury River, 
extending westward between Elm street and the Fitchburg 
Railroad. 

The main building, erected in 1891, is a model of its kind, 
containing every requisite for the comfort and enjoyment of the 
students. Near by stands the gymnasium, filled witli tlie best 
of apparatus, and the great playground, many acres in extent. 
There are tennis-courts also, and on tlie river bank a spacious 
boathouse, the most popular, perhaps, of all the ample means 
provided for athletic sports. 

The school is in charge of accomplished masters, wlio are not 
only good teachers, but are the constant companions of the 
boys, joining with them in all their sports, and inspiring them 
with that manly spirit which should enter largely into the 
development of character. 



24 THE COXCORD GUIDE BOOK. 

The chief work of the school is to prepare boys for college ; 
but the course of study is made flexible, so that a youth may be 
fitted for a business or scientific career. The special needs of 
the pupil are carefully considered in every case. 

There are at present accommodations for twenty-five board- 
ing pupils, but the pressure for j^laces is so great that additional 
rooms will soon have to be provided. 

There is also a marked change in the boating interests of the 
Concord River. Since the " Carnival of Boats " was printed, it 
has been copied in so many places with more or less success, 
that it has been abandoned here, and the heavy boats which 
once decorated every landing-place have given place to canoes. 
Being so frail they require special houses for their accommoda- 
tion, several of which ornament the river at various points. 
The finest of them is situated on the rioht bank of the Concord 

O 

River, just below tlie Red Bridge. Prichard Woods, near the 
river, has been furnished with Avinding walks and rustic seats, 
in order to form an attractive and cool retreat, without any loss 
of its native wildness and simplicity. 

The Concord Canoe Club has a large membership, and 
usually gives tAvo great field-days, besides numerous smaller 
occasions ; the former draw many participants and spectators, 
who, after a long trip to Fairhaven Bay or some other favorite 
localit}^ devote a long summer day to races and amusements of 
a similar character. 

Among the attractions of the river side, is the studio of 
Walton Ricketson, who has made many successful portrait 
busts of Thoreau, the Alcotts, and many of the Concord no- 



THE RAILROAD TRIP TO CONCORD. 25 

tables. Many of liis ideal works also ornament his studio, and 
many curious objects of art combine with ])right draperies and 
cushions to render it picturesque, especially when the great fire 
is lighted to cast weird shadows on the ancient furniture ; he 
lias many valuable manuscripts of native and foreign authors, 
and Thoreau's flute, and the spyglass witli which he penetrated 
so many of Nature's secrets. 

Away down the river is Ball's Hill, one of Thoreau"s favorite 
haunts. It is a matter of g-reat concrratulation that this hill has 
been purchased by Mr. William Brewster of C;lmbridge, who 
has taken measures to preserve its native wildness, in order to 
furnish a safe asylum for the birds and animals. No one will 
be allowed to use firearms, or to injure or destroy any of its 
animal or vegetable productions, if attention is paid to the 
polite requests of the owner. 

The many foreign and native artists who spend tlieir vaca- 
tions along tliese quiet streams have made line sketches of 
I . many beautiful places, some of which are the work of ]Mr. 
Edward Simmons, wlio has so successfully carried the fame of 
his native village to so many countries. 



CHAPTER 11. 

EARLY HISTORY, CHURCHES AND BURYING GROUNDS. 

The Town of Concord, probably so named from the peace- 
ful manner of its purchase, was settled by a company of about 
a dozen families, most of whom came directly from England for 
that purpose, having beeu encouraged in this plan by a traveller 
who visited the spot in the year 1633. These pilgrims endured 
great hardships in their passage from tide water to this spot, 
being compelled to wade through deep swamps and penetrate 
with oreat difficulty throuoh tanq;led thickets. Thev suffered 
greatly from the loss of their cattle which died in great numbers 
from chanq-e of diet and climate. The Indian name of tlie set- 
tlement was Musket-a-quid or the Grass-Grown River, and the 
broad meadows lying for many miles along the river were great- 
ly esteemed by their aboriginal owners as hunting grounds and 
corn fields ; but a peaceful purchase was made about the year 
1637, the transaction having occurred, according to a legend, 
under a great tree called Jethro's Oak, which stood near the 
present site of the Middlesex Hotel. The savage proprietors 
seemed to have been well disposed and friendly to the new 
comers who labored earnestly for their conversion and improve- 

26 




The Public Storehouse and Thoreau House. 




Thoreau's Birthplace. 

(Now removed.) 



EA RL V HIS TOR V, CHUR CHES A A D B UR YIXG GR O U.VDS. 2 7 

ment. The iipostle Eliot often preached to them, and through 
his inflnence, about the year 1656, a Large company of praying 
Indians existed, who cnltivated the hind and had an excellent 
code of laws, a copy of which is still extant. During the next 
twenty years the good feeling originall}- existing between the 
English and Indians seems to have gradually given place t(^ the 
most bitter animosity, and Concord soon became a military post 
and a centre of warlike operations, from which parties were 
constantly sent out to the relief of neighboring villages, and for 
the punishment of the enemy. 

During Philip's War several block houses were maintained, 
one of wdiicli tradition locates on the present site of the house 
of Dr. Barrett, one near Merriam's Corner, and one near 
the residence of Mr. Lewis Flint. 

Several Indians convictetl of the crime of murder and arson 
were executed in the town, and also one white man for the 
murder of an Indian. The general prejudice against the sav- 
ages extended also to the praying Indians, a small party of 
whom .were living here under the protection of Mr. John Hoar, 
who had erected a building for them to use as a residence and 
workshop ; and one Sunday a company of soldiers from Boston 
entered the town and demanded them, and they were saved 
with great difficulty by the courage and determination of their 
guardian. It is stated that before proceeding to attack these 
inoffensive Indians, the soldiers decorously attended public 
worship, and waited until after service before stating the object 
of their mission. 

The Old Church stood near the site of the present Unita 



28 



THE CONCORD GUIDE BOOK, 



rian house of worship, whicli was built on the old frame, so that 
it contains the same timbers as the one in which the first Pro- 
vincial Congress was held, on the fourteenth of October, 1774, 
of which John Hancock was chosen president. In this assembly 
were made those stirring speeches by himself, Adams, and other 
patriots, which did so much to hasten the events of the Revolu- 
tion. The church was organized at Cambridge, in 1636, and in 
1637 the Rev. Peter Bulkeley and John Jones were chosen as 
the teacher and the pastor. In this organization, like most 
of those under two heads, some difficulty seems to have arisen, 
and a part of the congregation seceded for a time, and some of 
the people followed Mr. Jones on his subsequent removal from 




= n\ x%mm¥ 



FIRST CHURCH. 



the town. Mr. Bulkeley came from noble ancestry, was renowned 
as a finished scholar and gentleman, and expended his means 



EARLY HISTORY, CHURCHES, AND BURYEXG GROUNDS. 29 

and strength for his town and church Avitli a liberality only 
equalled by his piety. He died universally lamented, March 
9th, 1659, at which time his son the Rev. Edward, was in- 
stalled in his place. The Rev. Joseph Esterbrook, Rev. Mr. 
Whiting, and Rev. Mr. Bliss, successively, succeeded him. 
After them came the eloquent divine and fearless patriot. Rev. 
William Emerson, who preached for ten j^ears, when he gav3 
his life to the service of his country. The Rev. Ezra Ripley 
succeeded to the church and home of Mr. Emerson, whose 
widow he married. Of both of the two last-named divines, 
an account will be found in another place. The Rev. H. B. 
Goodwin and the Rev. B. Frost were both colleagues of Dr. 
Ripley, the latter being pastor of the church after him, in 
which position he was succeeded for over twenty years by 
Rev. G. Reynolds, who identified himself with the history of 
this town, writing many valuable historical papers and books- 
The Trinitarian Congregational Church Avas organized 
in 1826, incorporated 1890. The church building was finished in 

1827, and was used for worship before it was quite completed. 

Its first minister was the Rev. Daniel Southmayd, and its 
present pastor is the Rev. George A. Tewksbury, formerly of 
Plymouth, Mass., wlio has prepared a manual which contains 
a full account of the old church, which began with sixteen 
people, and has advanced to a membership of about two hun- 
dred, which is rapidly increasing. In front of the church build- 
ing, which stands at the corner of Hubbard and Walden 
streets, is a memorial fountain to the Rev. Henry M. Grout, 
a much-beloved pastor who died in 1886. 



30 THE CONCORD GUIDE BOOK. 

St. Bernard's Roman Catholic Church Avas established 
ill 1866, under the pastorate of the Rev. P. J. Canny. The 
present pastor is the Rev. 'Edward J. Moriarty, the number of 
Avorshippers is twelve hundred. The church is ornamented 
Avith handsome stained glass memorial windows, and with many 
tine statues. It occupies a fine site on the public square, facing 
Ahxin street. 

Trinity Church, Protestant Episcopal, built and conse- 
crated 1885 ; organized as a parish 1887. Situated on Elm 
street, is built of stone, and has a fine triple window of stained 
glass in memory of its first warden, Orlando H. Underbill, Esq. 

A fine Union Church has lately been erected at Concord 
Junction. It is under the pastoral charge of the Rev. Walter 

Campbell. 

The Scandinavian Methodist Church on Thoreau street 
was dedicated in 1893. The pastor is Rev. J. P. Andersen. 

The Old Hill Burying Ground stands directly behind 
the Catholic Church. The date of its opening is unknown, and 
the location of no older one can be ascertained. The oldest 
stone in this ground is probably the monument to Joseph 
Merriam, who died the twentieth of April, 1677 ; and the most 
celebrated epitaph is that of John Jack,, an old slave who died 
in town in 1773. This has been widely copied at home and 
abroad as a curious specimen of antithesis, and it is usually 
attributed to the pen of Daniel Bliss. The stone, Avhich has 
been renewed, stands at the northerly corner of the yard, and a 
well-worn track leads to it from the main path. The inscrip- 
tion is here copied in full : 



> CD 



1 00 

00 —. 
-J Q_ 




EARLY HISTORY, CHURCHES AND BURYIXG GROUNDS. 33 

God wills us free, man wills us slaves, 
[ will as God wills ; God's will be done. 

Here lies the body of 
JOHN JACK 

A native of Africa, who died 
March 1773 ^ged about sixty years. 

Though born in a land of slavery, 

He was born free. 

Though he lived in a land of liberty, 

H t lived a slave ; 

Till by his honest though stolen laboC 

He acquired the source of slavery, 

Which gave him his freedom : 

Though not long before 

Death the grand tyrant, 

Ga\e him his final emancipation. 

And put him on a footing with kings. 

Though a slave to vice, 

He practised those virtues, 

Without which kings are but slaves. 

On the first white stone which was phT,ced in this cemetery is 
this iDScription, curions as sliowing the date when white marble 
superseded the common slate : 

This stone is designed 

by its durability 

to perpetuate the memory, 

and by its colour 

to signify the moral character, 

of 
MISS ABIGAIL DUDLEY 



34 EARLY HISTORY, CHCRCHES AND BURIAL GROUNDS. 

Who died Jan 4, 18 12, 
aged -J I. 

In the same yard is this beautiful epitaph : 

" VIVENS 
DILECTISSIMA." 

ORPHA BRYANT. 

Born December 24 1797, 

Died October i, 1798. 

She was the joy of her father, 

and the dehght of her mother, 

MORTUA LACJHRYMABILLIMA. 

In tins yard is tlie grave of Major Jolni Buttrick, who led the 
fight at the old North Bridge. He lies at tlie head of a large 
family, which includes his son who accompanied him as fifer, 
both these facts being properly noted on their gravestones, 
which may be seen near the crest of the hill by tlie side of the 
snnili magazine, in which the powder is kept for the village stores. 
Very near are the graves of tlie lamented pastors of the town, 
including that of the Rev. William Emerson as shown in the 
picture. It was probably near this spot that Col. Smith 
and Maj. Pitcairn, who commanded the British on the day of 
the Fight, stood to review the movements of their troops en- 
^a^'ed in various parts of the town, and to watch the Ameri- 
cans as they assembled from various quarters. On the same 
hill a hundred rods farther south, was the Libertv Pole erected 
by the patriots, which was cut down by the British on the morn^ 
ing of the battle. By the side of the tomb of Rev. William 



THE CONCORD GUIDE BOOK 



35 




luMP. oi' RFV. ^^ II. 

LI \M FMl KsON. 



Emerson is tliat of Joliii Beattou, 
an eccentric and frugal Scotchman 
wlio accumulated a large fortune 
and made a lil)oral bequest to tlie 
churcli which still goes by the 
name of tlic Beatton fund and is 
annually devoted to pious uses. 

The Burial Ground on Main 
Street was, according to tradition, 
the gift of two maiden ladies. In 
1Y75 the road probably went around 
the back side of it, and across tlie 
upper end, for Avliich reason most 
of tlie stones face the west, toward 
what was then the principal street. The oldest stone is that 
of Thomas Hartshorn, who died Nov\ 17, 1697; and no other 
one appears there until 1713. 

Sleepy Hollow Cemetery was purchased by the town, of 
the heirs of Reuben Brown, in 1855, and was laid out according 
to plans furnished l)y Morris Copeland, Esq. 

The architect has followed, Avisely, the natural form of the 
ground, and left undisturbed the amphitheatre which has existed 
for 3'ears in the center, and which had borne the name of Sleepy 
Hollow long before it was tliouglit of as a place of burial. On 
the nineteenth of April, 1856, a tree-bee was organized, and 
over an lumdred trees were set out in a single day by the citi- 
zens, each one of whom thus brought his own memorial. The 
ladies held two festivals in the same year to raise monej^ for 



6 EARLY HISTORY, CHURCHES AND BURYEVG GROUNDS. 



seats and decorations. The oration at the dedication was deliv- 
ered hy Emerson, and an ode by F. B. Sanborn was sung, which 
is copied here from " Parnassus." 

. Sliiiie kindly forth, September sun, 

From heavens calm and clear, 
That no untimely cloud may run 

Before thy golden sphere, 
To vex our simple rites to-day 

With one prophetic tear. 



With steady voices let us raise 

The fitting psalm and prayer; 
Remembered grief of other days 

Breathes softening in the air: 
Who knows not Death — who mourns no loss 

He has with us no share. 

To holy sorrow, solemn joy. 

We consecrate the place 
Where soon shall sleep the maid and boy, 

The father and his race, 
The mother with her tender babe, 

The venerable face. 



These waving woods, these valleys low. 
Between these tufted knolls, 

Year after year shall dearer grow 
To many loving souls ; 

And flowers be sweeter here than blow 
Elsewhere between the poles. 

For deathless Love and blessed Grief 
Shall guard these wooded aisles, 

When either Autumn casts the leaf. 
Or blushing Summer smiles. 

Or Winter whitens o'er the land, 
Or Spring the buds uncoils. 




Hawthorne's Grave. 




Emerson s Grave. 



THE CONCORD GUIDE BOOK. 37 

Many of the most marked graves are on The Ridge. 
Ascending the hill by Ridge Path, at the west, Nathaniel 
Hawthorne's grave is seen, snrronnded b}^ a low hedge of arbor 
vitse, as if the gifted anthor sought in death the modest retire- 
ment wliicli lie loved in life. His eloquent epitaph consists 
only of liis name on a phun white stone. 

The grave of Thoreau is just behind, with a granite 
stone j and by his side lies his brother John, whose genius 
might have outshone that of tlie poet, philosopher, and natural- 
ist, had not he died in its first flush. 

A little farther on, past the graves of Nathan Brooks and 
John M. Cheney, citizens whose worth and virtue have caused, 
their names to be honored forever by their townsmen, may be 
seeii tlie Wliiting monument, a copy of tlie Brewster monu- 
me:it at Plymouth, and that of Col. George L. Prescott, the 
patriot martyr wlio fell in response to liis country's earliest call 
for help. 

On the opposite side of Ridge Path is the grave of R. 
W. Emerson, to whicli thousands of visitors come every 
yeajc. A great pine stands near the head of tlie grave, which 
is now marked by a monument of beautiful pink quartz, in its 
native state, as it came from the quarry. Near by are the 
graves of his mother, and the son whose monument is the 
poem of " Threnody." 

A plain brown slab commemorates in a Latin verse Mrs. 
Samuel Ripley, whose classical attainments have been chron^ 
icled in the Centennial book by the loving hand of another of 
the most gifted women that our country ever knew. 

In the center of the same lot is the monument to her son, 



38 EARLY HISTORY, CHURCHES AND BURYING GROUNDS. 

Lieut. Ezra Ripley, a portion of whose epitapli is here copied : 

Of the best Pilgrim stock, 

descended from officers in the Revolutionary army 

and from a long line of the ministers of Concord, 

he was worthy of his lineage. 

An able and successful lawyer, 

he gave himself with persistent zeal 

to the cause of the friendless and the oppressed. 

Of slender physical strength 

and of a nature refined and delicate. 

He was led by patriotism and the love of freedom 

to leave home and friends for the toilsome lal)ors of war, 

and shrank from no fatigue and danger, 

until wc^rn out in her service, 

He gave his life for his country. 

Just opposite is the phiiii sliaft, erected by himself tweut}'' 
years before liis deatli, of Dr. Josiali Bartlett, wlio practised 
medicine in tliis town with devotion and success for a period of 
fifty -five 3'ears. He was the son of Dr. Josiali Bartlett, of 
Charlestown, who was a surgeon's mate, in 1775, at C'oucord 
Fight, so that the practice of father and son extended over a 
century. He was an earnest and fearless advocate of the cause 
of temperance Avhen it Avas most tnipopular, and was alwa^'s on 
the side of the oppressed. He died in Januaiy, 1878, in active 
practice at the age of eiglity-one. 

On tlie side of the liill, on Glen Path, is the monument 
designed by Hammatt Billings, and erected to the memory of 
the Hon. Samuel Hoar, who ])y his descendants, as well as by 
the probity and simple grandeur o^* his life, has done more to . 



THE CONCORD GUIDE BOOK. 41 

elevate the standard of living than an 3^ other man in the town 
or county. His epitaph, which is here copied, will speak far 
better than any words of tliis book. At the upper portion, on 
a tablet resembling a window, is this quotation from Pilgrim's 
ProoTess * 



O' 



" The pilgrim they laid in a chamber 

Whose window opened toward the sunrising ; 

The name of the chamber was Peace. 

There he lay till break of day, and then 

He arose and sang." 

Lower on the same face of the monument: 

SAMUEL HOAR 

of Concord. 

Born in Lincoln, May, 1778, 

Died in Concord, Nov. 2, 1856. 

He was long one of the most eminent lawyers 

and best beloved citizens of Mass., 

a safe counsellor, a kind neighbor, 

a Christian gentleman. 

He had a dignity that commanded the respect, 

and a sweetness and modesty that won the affection 

of all men. 

He practised an economy that never wasted, 

and a liberality that never spared. 

Of proved capacity for the highest offices. 

He never avoided obscure duties. 

He never sought stations of fame or emolument, 

and never shrank 

* from positions of danger or obloquy. 



42 THE CONCORD GUIDE BOOK. 

His days were made happy by public esteem and 

private affection. To the latest moment 

of his long life he preserved his 

clear intellect unimpaired, 

and, fully conscious of its approach, met 

death with the perfect assurance of immortal life. 

We copy also the inscription on tlie gravestone of his 
daughter : — 

MISS ELIZABETH HOAR, 
DIED APRIL 7, 1878, AGED 63. 

Her sympathy with what is high and fair brought her into intimacy 
with many eminent men and women of her time. Nothing 
excellent or beautiful escaped her quick apprehen- 
sion : and in her unfailing memory precious 
things lay in exact order, as in a royal treasury, hospitably ready 
to instruct and delight young and old. Her calm courage and 
simple religious faith triumphed over sickness and pain : 
and when Death transplanted her to her place in 
the Garden of the Lord, he found little perishable to prune away. 

Most of the epitaphs in this lot were written by the Hon. 
E. R. Hoar, who now lies among his family, having died on the 
31st day of January, 1895, to the intense grief of his towns- 
men, and of the world in general. His funeral was attended 
by an immense gathering, in which many of the greatest minds 
were represented. The graves of the Alcott family are directly 
behind the Hawthorne lot, and near that of the Thoreau family. 
Each grave is marked in the same manner, — by a low marble 
stone, bearing only the initials in this order : L. M. A., A. M. N., 



EARLY HISTORY, CHURCHES, AND BURYING GROUNDS. 43 

E. B., A. M. A., A. B. A., the last two being the father and 
mother, as Mrs. Pratt lies near by the side of her loving hus- 
band. A bronze tablet has been placed on Mr. Emerson's 
bowlder, bearing two lines from his own poem : — 

The passive master lent his hand 

To the great soul, that o'er him planned. 

Slate stones have been placed to mark the graves of his wife, 
mother, and son, and aunt Mary, a quotation from " Threnody " 
marking the grave of little Waldo : — 

The hyacinthine boy, for whom 
Morn well might break and April bloom ; 
The gracious boy, who did adorn 
The world whereunto he was born. 

The first burial in Sleepy Hollow was that of Mrs. Maria 
Holbrook, in the fall of 1855. The first burial in the New Hill 
Burying Ground was that of Mrs. Anna Robbins in 1823, 
which fact is noted on the stone. In the year 1869 the town 
purchased the land of the Agricultural Society, and thus united 
the New Hill Ground witli Sleepy Hollow. 

In the summer of 1873, Mr. George Tolman, impressed 
witli the fact that many of the older stones had disappeared, 
and that others were fast becoming illegible, undertook the 
task of copying all the inscriptions, so that they might be 
preserved. Being himself a printer and a practical proof- 
reader he has permitted nothing to escape his observation, 
but has followed the inscriptions literally, even to the abbre- 
viations, punctuation, errors in spelling, and all such minor 
points. These copies have been arranged in a manuscript 



44 THE CONCORD GUIDE BOOK. 

volume, and thoroughly indexed. To the student of geneal- 
ogy, these inscriptions have a peculiar value, as they often 
afford evidence as to facts and dates omitted in the Town 
Registers of births and deatlis. To add to their value in this 
respect, Mr. Tolman lias added genealogical notes, carefully 
tracing the line of descent and family connection, in many 
cases, especially those of members of our own old families, 
going back to the earliest ancestor of the name. The inter- 
ments in the "New Burying Ground," and in '' Sleepy Hol- 
low " have also been indexed by the same gentleman witli 
such completeness that there is probably no grave in any of 
our burial places, with the exception of the unmarked ones 
in the two old yards, to which liis manuscript is not a suf- 
ficient guide. He is at all times read}^ to show his work to 
any one who may desire to consult it for information. 



CHAPTER III 



THE BATTLE GROUND. 



The Battle Ground was presented to the town by the Rev. 
Dr. Ripley, who remarked iu Town Meeting a half century ago 
that the time would come wlien the spot woukl be a place of 
great interest to man3\ How well tlie prediction has been ful- 
filled, the dail}^ stream of visitors bears abundant witness. It 
is on Monument St., nearl}* half a mile from the center of the 
town, and near the Old Manse, having been a part of the farm 
belonging to it since the course of the road was changed Avhich 
formerly crossed the old North Bridge. 

The legends of the Fight being somewhat contradictory in 

45 



46 THE CONCORD GUIDE BOOK. 

minor parts, it has been thought best to follow in this brief 
sketch the account of Lemuel Shattuck, and that of the Rev. 
Dr. Ripley, adding in full the extract from the diary of the Rev. 
Mr. William Emerson, which was discovered and first published 
in 1835, by his grandson, Mr. R. W. Emerson. The following 
is a concise statement abridged from Shattuck's History of Con- 
cord, published in 1835. It should be borne in mind that it is 
not within the scope of this book to allude to events which did 
not take place in the town. 

The morning had advanced to about seven o'clock, and the British army 
were soon seen approaching the town on the Lexington road. The gHtter- 
ing arms of eight hundred soldiers, " the flower of the British army " were 
full in view. At first it was thought best that our men should face the 
enemy, as few as they were, and abide the consequences. Of this opinion, 
among others, was the Rev. William Emerson, the clergyman of the town, 
who had turned out amongst the first in the morning to animate and encour- 
age his people by his counsel and patriotic example. " Let us stand our 
ground," said he ; " if we die, let us die here ! " Eleazar Brooks of Lincoln 
was then on the hill. " Let us go and meet them," said one to him. " No," 
he answered, " it will not do for iis to begin the war." They did not then 
know what had happened at Lexington. Their number was very small in 
comparison with the enemy, and it was concluded best to retire a short dis- 
tance, and wait for reinforcements. They consequently marched to the 
northern declivity of the burying ground hill, near the present site of the 
court house. They did not, however, leave their station till the British light 
infantry had arrived within a few rods' distance. About this time Colonel 
James Barrett, who was commander of the militia, and who had been almost 
incessantly engaged that morning in securing the stores, rode up. Individ- 
uals were frequently arriving, bringing different reports. It was difficult to 
obtain correct information. Under these circumstances, he ordered the men 
there paraded, being about one hundred and fifty, to march over the North 



CO 

q_ 
c_ 



o 



CD •■ 




THE BATTLE GROUND. 47 

Bridge, and there wait for reinforcements. In the meantime the British 
troops entered the town. The six companies of light infantry were ordered 
to enter on the hill, and disperse the minute men whom they had seen 
paraded there. The grenadiers came up the main road, and halted on the 
common. The first object of the British was to gain possession of the 
North and South bridges, to prevent any militia from entering over them. 
Accordingly, while Col. Smith remained in the center of the town, he de- 
tached six companies of light infantry, under command of Capt. Lawrence 
Parsons of his own regiment, to take possession of the North Brido-e, and 
proceed thence to places where stores were deposited. On their arrival 
there, three companies under command of Capt. Laurie of the 43d reo-- 
iment, were left to protect the bridge ; one of those, commanded by Lieut. 
Edward Thornton Gould, paraded at the bridge ; the other, of the 4th and 
loth regiments, fell back in the rear towards the hill. Capt. Parsons, with 
three companies, proceeded' to Col. Barrett's to destroy the stores there 
deposited. At the same time Capt. Mundey Pole, of the loth regiment, was 
ordered to take possession of the South Bridge, and destroy such public 
property as he could find in that direction. The grenadiers and marines, 
under Smith and Pitcairn, remained in the center of the town, where all 
means in their power were used to accomplish the destruction of military 
stores. In the center of the town the grenadiers broke open about sixty 
barrels of flour, nearly one half of which was afterwards saved, knocked off 
the trunnions of three iron twenty-four pound cannon, and burnt sixteen 
new carriage-wheels, and a few barrels of wooden trenchers and spoons. 
The liberty-pole on the hill was cut down, and suffered the same fate. 
About five hundred pounds of balls were thrown into the mill-pond and 
into wells. While the British were thus engaged, our citizens and part of 
our military men, having secured what articles of public property they could, 
were assembling under arms. Beside the minute-men and militia of Con- 
cord, the military companies from the adjoining towns began to assemble ; 
and the number had increased to about two hundred and fifty or three 
hundred. John Robinson of Westford, a lieutenant-colonel in a regiment of 



48 THE CONCORD GUIDE BOOK. 

minute-men under Col. William Prescott, and other men of distinction had 
already assembled. The hostile acts and formidable array of the enemy, 
and the burning of the articles they had collected in the village, led them to 
anticipate a general destruction. Joseph Hosmer, acting as adjutant, formed 
the soldiers as they arrived singly or in squads, the minute companies on the 
right, and the militia on the left, facing the town. He then, observing an 
unusual smoke arising from the center of the town, went to the officers and 
citizens in consultation on the high ground near by, and inquired earnestly, 
"Will you let them burn the town down } " They then " resolved to march 
into the middle of the town to defend their homes, or die in the attempt ; " 
and at the same time they resolved not to fire unless first fired upon. " They 
acted upon principle, and in the fear of God." Col. Barrett immediately 
gave orders to march by wheeling from the right. Major Buttrick requested 
Lieut. Col. Robinson to accompany him, and led them m double file to the 
scene of action. When they came to the road leading from Capt. Brown's 
to the bridge, a part of the Acton minute company under Capt. Davis passed 
by in front, marched towards the bridge a short distance, and halted. Being 
in files of two abreast, the Concord minute company under Capt. Brown, 
being before at the head, marched up the north side till they came equally 
in front. The precise position, however, of each company, cannot now be 
fully ascertained. 

The British, observing their motions, immediately formed on the east side 
of the river, and soon began to take up the planks of the bridge. Against 
this Maj. Buttrick remonstrated, and ordered a quicker step of his soldiers. 
The British desisted. At that moment two or three guns were fired in quick 
succession into the river, which the provincials considered as alarm guns, 
and not aimed at them. They had arrived within ten or fifteen rods of the 
bridge when a single gun was fired by a British soldier, the ball from which, 
passing under Col. Robinson's arm, slightly wounded the side of Luther 
Blanchard, a fifer in the Acton company, and Jonas Brown, one of the Con- 
cord minute-men. This gun was instantly followed by a volley, by which 
Capt. Isaac Davis and Abner Hosmer, both belonging to Acton, were killed. 



THE BATTLE GROUND. 51 

On seeing this, Maj. Buttrick instantly leaped from the ground, and partly 
turning to his men, exclaimed : " Fire, fellow-soldiers, for God's sake, fire ; " 
discharging his own gun almost in the same instant. His order was in- 
stantly obeyed ; and a general discharge from the whole line of the pro- 
vincial ranks took place. Firing on both sides continued a few minutes 
Three British soldiers were killed, and Lieuts. Sunderland, Kelley, and 
Gould, a sergeant and four privates were wounded. The British imnledi- 
ately retreated about half way to the meeting house, and were met by two 
companies of grenadiers, who had been drawn thither by " the noise of 
battle." Two of the soldiers killed at the bridge were left on the ground, 
where they were afterwards buried by Zachariah Brown, and Thomas Davis, 
jun. From this time through the day, little or no military order was pre- 
served among the provincials ; every man chose his own time and mode of 
attack. It was between ten and eleven o'clock when the firing at the bridge 
took place, and a short time after Capt. Parsons and his party returned 
unmolested from Col. Barrett's. 

By this time the provincials had considerably increased, and were con- 
stantly arrixing from the neighboring towns. The British had but partially 
accomplished the objects of their expedition ; but they now began to feel 
that they were in danger, and resolved on an immediate retreat. They 
retreated in the same order as they entered town, the infantry on the hill and 
the grenadiers in the road, but with flanking parties more numerous and 
farther from the main body. On arriving at Merriam's Corner they were 
attacked by the provincials, who had proceeded across the Great Fields in 
conjunction with a company from Reading, under command of Gov. Brooks. 
Several of the British were killed, and several wounded. None of the pro- 
vincials were injured. From this time the road was literally lined with 
provincials, whose accurate aim generally produced the desired effect. Guns 
were fired from every house, barn, wall, or covert. After they had waylaid 
the enemy and fired upon them from one position, they fell back from the 
road, ran forward, and came up again to perform a similar manoeuvre. 



52 THE CONCORD GUIDE BOOK. 

The following is an extract from the diary of Rev. William 
Emerson : 

"1775, 19 April. This morning, between one and two o'clock, we were 
alarmed by the ringing- of the bell, and upon examination found that the 
troops, to the number of eight hundred, had stolen their march from Boston, 
in boats and barges, from the bottom of the Common over to a point in 
Cambridge, near to Inman's f^uni, and were at Lexington meeting-house 
half an hour before sunrise, where they had fired upon a body of our men 
and, as we afterward heard, had killed sexeral. This intelligence was 
brought us first by Dr. Samuel Prescott, who narrowly escaped the guard 
that were sent before on horses, purposely to prevent all posts and messen- 
gers from giving us timely information. He, by the help of a very fleet 
horse, crossing several walls and fences, arrived at Concord at the time 
above mentioned, when several posts were immediately despatched, that, 
returnino-, confirmed the account of the regulars' arrival at Lexington, and 
that they were on their way to Concord. Upon this, a number of our minute 
men belonging to this town, and Acton and Lincoln, with several others 
that were in readiness, marched out to meet them, while the alarm com- 
pany were preparing to receive them in the town. Capt. Minot, who 
commanded them, thought it proper to take possession of the hill above the 
meetin2"-house as the most advantageous situation. No sooner had our 
men gained it, than we were met by the companies that were sent out to 
meet the troops, who informed us that they were just upon us, and that 
we must retreat, as their number was more than treble ours. We then 
retreated from the hill near the Liberty Pole, and took a new post back 
of the town, upon an eminence, where we formed into two battalions, and 
waited the arrival of the enemy. Scarcely had we formed, before we saw 
the British troops, at the distance of a quarter of a mile, glittering in 
arms, advancing towards us with the greatest celerity. Some were for 
making a stand, notwithstanding the superiority of their number ; but 
others, more prudent, thought best to retreat, till our strength should be 
equal to the enemy's, by recruits from neighboring towns that were con- 



THE BA TTLE GROUND. 53 

tinually coming in to our assistance. Accordingly we retreated over the 
bridge. The troops came into the town, set fire to several carriages for 
the artillery, destroyed sixty barrels of flour, rifled several houses, took pos- 
session ot the town-house^ destroyed five hundred pounds of balls, set o 
guard of a hundred men at the North Bridge, and sent up a party to the 
house of Col. Barrett, where they were in expectation of finding a quantity 
of warlike stores. But these were happily secured, just before their arrival, 
by transportation into the woods and other by-places. In the mean time, 
the guard set by the enemy to secure the posts at the North Bridge were 
alarmed by the approach of our people, who had retreated, as mentioned 
before, and were now advancing, with special orders not to fire upon the 
troops unless fired upon. These orders were so punctually observed, that 
we received the fire of the enemy in three several and separate discharges of 
their pieces before it was returned by our commanding officer. The firing 
then soon became general for several minutes, in which skirmish two were 
killed on each side, and several of the enemy wounded. It may here be 
observed, by the way, that we were the more cautious to prevent beginning a 
rupture with the king's troops, as we were then uncertain what had happened 
at Lexington, and knew [not] that they had begun the quarrel there by 
firing upon our people, and killing eight men upon the spot. The three 
companies of troops soon quitted their post at the bridge, and retreated in 
the greatest disorder and confusion to the main body, who were soon upon 
the march to meet them. For half an hour, the enemy, by their marches 
and counter-marches, discovered great fickleness and inconstancy of mind ; 
sometimes advancing sometimes returning to their former posts, till at 
length they quitted the town, and retreated by the way they came. In the 
mean time a party of our men (one hundred and fifty) took the back way, 
through the Great Fields, into the east quarter, and had placed themselves to 
advantage, lying in ambush behind walls, fences, and buildings, ready to fire 
upon the enemy on their retreat." 



CHAPTER IV. 

HOUSES OF HISTORICAL INTEREST. 

Under this head it is proposed to give a list of all houses any 
part of which was standing at the time of the Fight. Of most 
of them it has been difficult to find the exact date of their 
erection, but it has been approximated as nearly as possible. 
Few have been included wliich are more than a mile from the 
center of the town, and none of which there is a doubt of their 
being in existence or in progress at the date above mentioned. 

On the square the Wright tavern stands just as on the day 
when Maj. Pitcairn entered it on the morning before the battle, 
when he stirred the brandy with his bloody finger, making the re- 

54 




o 

X 



30 
o 

JC 

I- 



HOUSES OF HISTORICAL INTEREST. 



55 



mark, that he would stir the rebels' blood before night. This 
building, with the exception of the L has probably suffered less 
change than any other of the old houses. The church which stood 
near it was built in 1712, and the present building contains 
some of the same timbers as the old one. The old yellow block 



"'f t;"? 
'^>-^ 
'^'i- 












^i|--; 





,t 



^igs* 3i----s«!... 



-s;---.':^-.-^' - 'i^aiF; 



V'Vi«»;«CiM*^,i5w*4W^C^;- ■ 



THE WRIGHT TAVERN. 



at the other side of the square was used for stores and residen- 
ces, and probably dates back to 1750. Nearly opposite Wright's 
tavern is the Tolman house, which was inhabited by Dr. Ezekiel 
Brown, who was a surgeon in the Revolutionary war ; and at 
the other side of the square, at the beginning of Monument St., 
the row of buildings were in part occupied as store-houses, in 



56 THE CONCORD GUIDE BOOK. 

which some of the Provincial supplies were kept, to obtain 
wliich was one of the causes of the invasion of the town by 
the British troops. 

Proceeding down the Boston road the house of Jonas Lee 
is about opposite the end of the yellow block. Its owner was a 
staunch patriot, although the son of a noted tory who was 
brought to discipline by his townsmen for that cause. The 
next house on the same side was the home of Dr. Joseph Hunt; 
and the next building but one was the shop of Reuben Brown, 
where knapsacks, saddlery and other equipments Avere made. 
Its owner was prominent on the day of the Fight having been dis- 
patched on a reconnoitering tour toward Lexington in the morn- 
nio-. The house next to it was also standing, as well as the one 
occupied by George Hey wood, Esq., which is supposed to be at 
least two hundred years old. It was just below this liouse that 
the guard was posted, at the same time that one was placed at 
the old North and another at tlie old South bridge. A little 
below is tlie Beal house, and half a mile below it the Alcott 
house, both of which date back to about 1740. The house of 
Ephraim Bull, Esq., was probablj^ nearly as old, and it is well 
known all over tlie United States through the Concord Grape 
which was originated here by its present owner. Half a mile 
below is Merriam's corner. The old house stands as it stood 
when the Reading and ofUer troops under the command of Gov. 
Brooks, came up and joined the men who had come across the 
great fields from the North Bridge, and killed and wounded 
several of the ^'-^treating British. 







y 



\iVX^i--f', 












^ v^m\\' ;^v/| iffy . v^ 



K-^'^o.^^'r ' 



I ■, '^ 




HOUSES OF HISTORICAL INTEREST, 59 

On the Bedford road are two or three houses of great 



age. 



On the Turnpike and Lincoln roads the Tuttle and Fox 
houses date back to 1740 or ^b. 
Returning to the square and crossing the old mill-dam, 

the Vose house is remarkable as being the only three-story 
house ever built in town. In a picture taken about 1775 it is 
very prominent, and was doubtless one of the chief houses of 
the village. Above it on the right, on ^Nfain street stands the 
house of Dr. Barrett, one room of which was a portion of the 
old block house dating back perhaps to King Philip's War; near 
this house, at a corner of the burial ground, stood tlie old jail 
in which some of the British prisoners Avere confined. The 
road turned at this point and went toward the Wheeler house^ 
which Avas built in the present form in 1700, and lias always 
remained in the possession of the same famil}-. A few rods 
above the South Bridge was the home of Capt. Joseph Hosmer 
who was requested 1)y Maj. Buttrick to act as adjutant, and 
rendered very efficient service in marshalling and collecting the 
Americans as they arrived from various points ; it has remained 
in the family of his descendants ever since its erection in 1761, 
and was a place of concealment for stores which Avere saved by 
the courage and ingenuity of Mrs. Hosmer; a detachment of 
British soldiers Avas sent to capture their cannon balls Avhich 
Avere heaped in one of the rooms, and the kegs of poAvder Avhich 
had b'^en liidden behind some feathers under the eaves, but the 
shrewd lady contrived to send the troops away without discov- 



6o THE CONCORD GUIDE BOOK. 

ering them, although thej destroyed several of her beds in the 
search. 

Nearly behmd this house is another old one built about 1763, 
which was the home of Ephriam Wood, Esq., who was a zealous 
patriot and an officer of the town, and was engaged iu secreting 
some stores in another place, and esca^jed the search which was 
made for him through tlie house. A short distance up the road 
which passes in front of Adjutant, afterwards known as Maj. 
Hosmer's liouse, is anotlier t)ld house wliich beloni^ed to a 
member of the same familj , and lialf a mile east of it is the 
house of Abel Hosmer, tlie builder of which was on his way to 
Charlestovvn for a load of brick wlien he met the British coming 
from Lexington. 

Opposite the Depot of tlie extension of the Middlesex 
branch of the Central R. R. stands the liouse of the celebrated Dr. 
Cummings. In early life he was a soldier in the wars with the In- 
dians. Being wounded, he was ca[)tured, treated with severity 
at first, and afterwards with kindness. He received a commission 
from tiie Crown as Justice of the Peace, and at the beginning of 
the Revolution he became chairman of the committee of corre- 
spondence, inspection and safety. After the war he acquired 
property and left bequests to the church, town. Harvard Col- 
lege, etc. 

Going up Monument street toward the Battle Ground, 

the first of the old houses is that owned b}' Mr. Keyes, which 
was built by Elisha Jones, the stepfather of Captain Nathan 
Barrett, who had command of a company at the Concord 




The Elisha Jones House, with bullet mark in the L. 




The Muster Room in the Barrett House. 



HOUSES OF HISTORICAL INTEREST. 6i 

fight. This house stands on the left side of the road. 
It is one of the oldest in town, and was owned by Elisha 
Jones at the time of the fiofht, and bore marks of ao^e at that 
time. It remains much in the same form, and the present 
owner John S. Keyes, Esq., has carefully preserved many relics 
of the time, among which are copies of tlie old pictures of the 
battle, and a view of the town as it then existed. In the L 
part a bullet hole is plainly visible, whicli was made b}- a British 
bullet, near which is a portion of the okl North Bridge nailed 
against a beam ; underneath this stands the stone across which 
Capt. Isaac Davis fell. This stone formed a portion of a roAV 
which were used as stepping stones when the water was high on 
the causewa}^, and it was identified by certain stains which 
appear on it. Tlie wife of a grandson of Col. Barrett lived in 
this house and used to relate her vivid recollections of the day, 
as she watched the red coats march by the house as she stood 
at a window on a pile of salt fish which formed part of the 
stores concealed there. Her husband's father built a house on 
Ponkawtassett where Mr. Daniel Hunt also lived. 

On Ponkawtassett Hill, jiear these houses the min- 
ute men and militia Avent to watch the movements of the British, 
and after receiving reinforcements marched down to the higli 
groundby Maj. Buttrick's house which still stands, and is now 
occupied by ]\Ir. J. Derby. This house w as built by Jonathan 
Buttrick in 1712, and the front part i-emains the same as in 1775, 
and it was in the possession of the Buttrick family until 1832. 
It is recorded on the grave stone of Jonathan Buttrick that 
thirteen well-instructed children followed him to the grave, one 



62 THE CONCORD GUIDE BOOK. 

of whom was Maj. John Buttrick the hero of the Fight. His 
brothers Samuel, Joseph and Daniel all left their farms and 
served under the Maj. at the bridge. Their houses are now 
standing on the Carlisle road above Ponkawtassett on the fiirms 
which were given them by their father. Tlie Ball Hill farm- 
house was also built long before 1775, and a son of the family, 
Benjamin Ball, was killed at Bunker Hill. The old Whittaker 
house was also where it is now, just behind Ponkawtassett. 
The Hunt house was the oldest on this hill, and it was the one 
at which the Americans were supplied with food as they assem- 
bled on the hill waiting for reinforcements. The house of 
Capt. Nathan Barrett who commanded the fourth company at 
the fight, and who joined in the pursuit of the British, and was 
wounded in the afternoon of that day, was near Mr. Hunt'son 
Ponkawtassett ; and the house of his father,Col. James Barrett, 
also stands near Annursnuck hill on the same spot as it occu- 
pied' in 1775. lie was in command of the American forces 
engaged, and discharged the onerous duties also of the arrange- 
ment and protection of the public stores. Being one of the 
most prominent men of the town, a party of British soldiers 
searched his house as well as that of his brother which stood 
near. They were provided with refreshments by the wife of 
Col. Barrett who refused payment, saying: "We are com- 
manded to feed our enemies." She afterwards kept with reluc- 
tance the money which they threw into her lap, saying, " this 
is the price of blood." This heroic woman succeeded in con- 
cealing a quantity of ammunition, but fifty dollars was taken by 
the soldiers who also arrested her son whom she persuaded them 



HOUSES OF inSlOKlCAL lATEKLST. 63 

to liberate with the lemaik '^ this is my son and not the master 
of the house." 

The vicinity of Col. Barrett's house is a very important 
point in the history of the town, for his prominence as Col. of 
the Militia rendered him and liis property objects of peculiar 
importance and suspicion to the British wlio were well informed 
through their spies of the state of things at Concord. For 
this reason a detachment of troops was sent to this house earl}' 
in the forenoon in the hope of capturing Col. Barrett himself, 
as well as some of the munitions of war which were known to 
be concealed there; some of them were saved by being buried 
in a newly-planted field and by being ingeniously hidden in 
other ways. The British had made a pile of the gun carriages 
and of the articles which they succeeded in finding, and were 
about to burn them when their attention was turned from the 
work of destruction by the sound of firing at the old North 
Bridge. 

On hearing the repeated voileys of musketry the company 
which numbered about one hundred men took up their line of 
march toward the center of the town whicli had been held by 
the main body of the troops, under Smith and Pitcairn, as they 
were in great danger of being cut off in their retreat. They 
had to march a distance of nearly two miles and were well 
aware, from small bodies of minute men who passed within 
sight, that the citizens of the neighboring towns were rapidly 
hastening to the relief of Concord. 

On their return they were obliged to pass over the old Nortli 
Bridge where the Fight occurred, but were enabled to do this in 



64 



THE CONCORD GUIDE BOOK. 



safety, as the victorious Americans did not attempt to follow 
the British with whom tliey had been engaged, on their way 
back to the center of the town, bat they crossed over the great 
fields as before stated in order to intercept the British forces at 
Merriam's Corner. 

The college road which is near the Barrett house is a lasting 
memorial of the time wlien Harvard College was removed to 
Concord in tlie winter of 1775, by order of the Provincial Con- 
gress, as the college buildings at Cambridge were needed for 
the use of tlie soldiers of the American Army. Tlie Rev. Dr. 
Ripley and Dr. Hurd, and several other men afterward well 
known in the annals of their state, were among those who 
made a visit to Coneord at this period. A letter of thanks 
from the President of tlie college is still extant, in wliich he 
expresses his gratitude and apologies in graceful terms. The 
Professors were quartered in several houses in the village, the 
President himself residino^ at Dr. Minot's near the Middlesex 
hotel. 

Many of the students boarded at tlie old mansion house, 
built by Simon Willard, one of tlie founders of the tow^n, at 
the foot of Lee's hill. If this article were not necess.'a'ily con- 
fined to the Historical liouses at present standing,, a picture 
of the Willard house would be of great interest; but the 
building unfortunately was destroyed by fire abou6 twenty 
years ago. 

This house stood on the farm of a noted tory named Lee, 
who made himself so unpopular that he was confined to the 
limits of his farm, and legend states that the minute men when 




College Road. 



HOUSES OF HISTORICAL INTEREST. 65 

returiiiiig from tlieir drill often made a target of his buildings. 
Tiie house was owned formerly by the Woodis family with 
whom the Barrett family were connected, and Joseph Barrett, 
Esq., a grandson of Col. James Barrett, owned and occupied 
it for many years. He was a prominent citizen of Concord, 
and was appointed to many places of trust and honor, having 
been at the time of his death Treasurer of the Commonwealth. 

Opposite the Library stands the old inn, at which stages 
running between Boston and the up-country towns used to 
change horses. The swing sign marked " Shepard's Tavern," is 
now ill the possession of Mr. R. N. Rice, who purchased the 
building, and has modernized it into a pleasant residence. 
Bigelow's tavern, another ancient inn, stood just below, and 
its extensive grounds comprise a part of his fine estate. In 
front of his stable stood the old jail in which British prisoner's 
were confined in 1775. Mr. Rice commenced business in tlie 
old green store which occupied the site of the Catholic cluirch. 
He went to Michigan in 1846, in the service of the Michigan 
Central Railroad, of which lie was afterwards general manager 
for thirteen years. In 1870, Mr. Rice built his present house, 
and was prominent in various extensive town improvements, 
including Hubbard and Thoreau streets. Other gentlemen 
were associated with Mr. Rice, among whom were Mr. Samuel 
Staples, who has for years been an authority on the subject 
of real estate, and has lived in town for half a century. 

William Hunt, in connection with several other families, 
settled on tlie borders of the beautiful stream which has now 
become historic. They had braved the dangers of the stormy 



66 THE CONCGl^D GUIDE BOOK. 

Atlantic to seek a new lionie in America, and they fearlessly 
faced the hardships of a new life in the rngged wilderness 
where they sought to establish a home secure in the blessings 
of civil and religious liberty. How well they builded is a part 
of the Avorld's liistor}'. 

The descendants of William Hunt assembled to commem- 
orate the share that their ancestor had in the settlement of the 
town of Concord, l)y a reunion of the different branches of 
the Hunt family, and their alliances, at Concord, Wednesday, 
August 12, 1885. 

On the 12th of September, 1885, the town of Concord cele- 
brated its two hundred and fiftieth anniversary with appro- 
priate exercises. A committee was appointed to designate by 
tablets the chief places of note in connection with the early 
history of the town. This was done, and these tablets are fully 
described in the succeeding chapter. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE TABLETS, AND HOW TO REACH THEM. 

The Willard Tablet, commemorating one of the founders 
of the town, is built into the wall which bounds the south- 
western end of the famous farm so often mentioned in these 
pages. To reach it from the Fitchburg Depot, keep to the left 
sidewalk of Nashawtuck avenue until Main street is crossed. 
The last house on the rioht, before reachino- the one on the 
corner of jNIain street, is the one in which j\Irs. Pratt, the Meg 
of " Little Women," died in August, 1893. The walk on the 
right side of INIain street leads to the tablet which is on the 
hill after crossing the Stone Bridge. The tablet reads : 

67 



68 THE CONCORD GUIDE BOOK. 

ON THIS FARM DWELT 

SIMON WILLARD 

ONE OF THE FOUNDERS OF CONCORD 

WHO DID GOOD SERVICE FOR 

TOWN AND COLONY 

FOR MORE THAN FORTY YEARS. 

Simon Willard was a soldier and engineer, and one of the 

first settlers, 1635. He was instrumental in the purchase and 

laying out of the six mile square tract which formed the 

plantation. One of the corner boundaries still remains, now in 

the town of Carlisle, which consists of large rocks piled up by 

Mr. Willard and his associates. In Philip's War he went 

to the defence of Brookfield, as did the pious Major Wheeler, 

one of whose descendants has lately purchased the estate. 

" Up to old Brookfield just in time the pius Wheeler went 
With old queen's arm and muskatoon Philip to circumvent. 
Men who could fight as well as pray, the crafty savage saw, 
Could equal him in strategy and conquer him in war." 

Simon Willard was the head of the noted family of that 
name which has furnished Harvard College with two Presi- 
dents, one of whom was a minister, as many of his descendants 
have also been. Tory Lee was for many years confined to the 
limits of this farm on the penalty of being shot by the minute- 
men if he left it. 

ON THE HILL NASHAWTUCK 

AT THE MEETING OF THE RIVERS 

AND ALONG THE BANKS 

LIVED THE INDIAN OWNERS OF 

MUSKET AQU ID 
BEFORE THE W^HITE MEN CAME 




The Tablet at Egg Rock. 



THE TABLETS, AXD HOW TO REACH THEM. 69 

This tablet is at Egg Rock, which is a central bound of this 
same Nashawtuck Farm which owes its name to the Indian 
title, wliich means the meeting of the waters. From its situa- 
tion on the promontory it can be reached best by a canoe-trip 
of half a mile from the Stone Bridge near by. The Squaw 
Sachem alluded to on the next tablet is supposed to have lived 
near the point marked by the above inscription, which is cut 
upon a rock on tlie shore of the river. The Squaw Sachem 
was a person of influence, whom legend says ruled the tribe 
wisely and well, and the town has certainly been under female 
dominion ever since. In her career was solved the question 
which lias for so manv years aoitated the minds of the advocates 
of Woman's Riofhts. 

"The woman's right to hibor to her was not denied, 
The good man smoked the pipe of peace, a helpmeet was his bfide ; 
She built the lodge, and cooked the food, and brought the wood and water, 
And patiently did all the work as every woman ' oughter.' " 

The Squaw Sachem is said to have afterwards given up her 
independence by marrying the medicine-man, as many widows 
have done before her, and her son was one of the praying 
Indians converted by Eliot and Gookin. Some idea of the 
power of this remarkable squaw may be gathered from the 
tablet which stands on Lowell street, in front of the second 
house from the Square on the right hand side, which marks 
the former home of the Rev. Peter Bulkley, who was the 
minister who led his church from Newtown to settle in 
Concord. 



70 THE CONCORD GL'IDE BOOK. 

HERE IN THE HOUSE OF THE 

REVEREND PETER BULKELEY 

FIRST MINISTER AND ONE OF THE 

FOUNDERS OF THIS TOWN 

A BARGAIN WAS MADE WITH THE 

SQUAW SACHEM THE SAGAMORE TAHATTAWAN 

AND OTHER INDIANS 

WHO THEN SOLD THE RIGHT IN 

THE SIX MILES SQUARE CALLED CONCORD 

TO THE ENGLISH PLANTERS 

AND GAVE THEM PEACEFUL POSSESSION 

OF THE LAND 

A.D. 1636. 

On account of the peaceful manner of its purchase, the name 
of the phintation was changed from Musketaquid to Concord, 
a name which its inhabitants have shown their right to by tlie 
most active participation in every battle since, from King 
Philip's to the great Rebellion, including the uprising against 
Sir Edmund Andros and Shays's Rebellion. 

Returning to the Square, upon the right side of which, near 
the head of Lowell street, is the tablet which marks tlie site of 
the first Town and Court House, which building was set on fire 
by the British troops, who plundered it in their search for 
stores; but a woman who lived near persuaded them to put out 
the fire by saying there was a large quantity of gunpowder in 
the building. Her ancient bill for this service was presented 
at the last centennial anniversary of the town. 



THE TABLETS, AND HOW TO REACH THEM. 71 

NEAR THIS SPOT STOOD 

THE FIRST TOWN HOUSE 

USED FOR TOWN MEETINGS 

AND THE COUNTY COURTS 

1721-1794. 

On the other side of the Square the following tablet is on the 
wall in front of the burial ground : 

ON THIS HILL 

THE SETTLERS OF CONCORD 

BUILT THEIR MEETING-HOUSE 

NEAR WHICH THEY WERE BURIED, 

ON THE SOUTHERN SLOPE OF THE RIDGE 

WERE THEIR DWELLINGS DURING 

THE FIRST WINTER, 

BELOW IT THEY LAID OUT 

THEIR FIRST ROAD AND 

ON THE SUMMIT STOOD THE 

LIBERTY-POLE OF THE REVOLUTION. 

This old graveyard, wliich is more fully described in another 
place, is the oldest in town, and is full of quaint inscriptions, 
the most of which are on the side towards the village ; and 
legend says that the three earliest ministers of Concord were 
buried in one tomb, the exact locality of which is not certain. 
Antiquarians and others interested in searching for their ances- 
tors are referred to the book described above, which may be 
seen at the Library. 



72 



THE COX CORD GUIDE BOOK. 




Gateway to the Old Manse. 



A little way west of the burial ground, in front of the Unita- 
rian Church, is a tablet descriptive of the stirring scenes which 
have occurred near the spot. 



THE TABLETS, AND HOW TO REACH THEM. 73 

FIKST PROVINCIAL CONGRESS 

OF DELEGATES FROM THE TOWNS OF 

MASSACHUSETTS 

\yAS CALLED BY CONVENTIONS OF 

THE PEOPLE TO MEET AT CONCORD ON THE 

ELEVENTH DAY OF OCTOBKIJ 1774. 

THE DELEGATES ASSEMBLED HERE 

IN THE MEETING HOUSE ON THAT DAY, 

AND ORGANIZED 

WITH JOHN HANCOCK AS PRESIDENT 

AND BENJAMIN LINCOLN AS SECRETARY. 

CALLED TOGETHER TO MAINTAIN 

THE RIGHTS OF THE PEOPLE, 

THIS CONGRESS 

ASSUMED THE GOVERNMENT OF THE PROVINCE 

AND BY ITS MEASURES PREPARED THE WAY 

FOR THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION. 

In siglit of this tablet are two interesting buildings, the yel- 
low block on the riglit, and the Wright Tavern on the left. 
From the door on the upper corner of tlie yellow block, Lieut.- 
Col. Robinson came forth on the 19th of April, before going 
to the fight as a volunteer aid to Major Buttrick. The Wright 
Tavern, of which a picture and description are given, is owned 
by the church, and two legends of it are alluded to in these 
verses : 

'• The legend tells that in this house, the silver of the church 
Was hidden in a keg of soap away from British search. 
Certain it is her ancient creed so guarded sacred thinffs. 
That to her solemn verities no soft soap ever clings. 



74 THE COArCORD GUIDE BOOK. 

One Brown once kept the tavern Wright, and a brave man was he, 
For in the Boston tea-party he helped to pour the tea. 
This fact is chiseled on his stone and grave stones never lie, 
But always speak the living truth just as do you and I/'' 

Crossing the street, and turning to the left, the sidewalk 
leads to tlie tablet at Merriam's Corner, along the road to 
Lexington, passing many remarkable houses in the following 
order : the rough-cast house once occupied b}^ a surgeon of the 
Revolutionary war, the two houses of the patriot brothers Lee, 
who also did good service in the same war, and the houses 
owned by Captain Brown. The first of these, in which the 
leather accoutrements were made for the soldiers of the Revolu- 
tion, is now owned by Mrs. Julia Clark, a resident of the town 
for seventy years, and closely identified with its charitable 
work ; she also once occupied the next house, wdiicli was the 
liome of Capt. Brown, and is now the headquarters of tlie 
Antiquarian Society. In tliis liouse she has entertained 
many remarkable guests, including Ralph Waldo Emerson, 
liis eccentric aunt, Mary Moody Emerson, and the family 
of John Brown, who spent much time there between his 
visit to Kansas and Harper's Ferry. The Concord Antiqua- 
rian Society, described in another chapter, now occupies this 
house. The next below is one of the oldest in town, having 
been the home of John Beaton, who founded the charity which 
has for two hundred years helped the silent poor of the town. 
A few rods below, the house of Ralph Waldo Emerson, which 
he occupied from 1835 until liis death in 1882, is on the 
opposite side of the road. Ascending tlie hill past Mr. Moore's 




Merriam's Corner. 




The Tablet on Keves' Hill. 



THE TABLETS, AND HOW TO REACH THEM. 75 

green-houses, the School of Philosophy is reached, in the same 
lot with tlie Orchard House, where tlie Alcott girls lived in 
their prime. In the great trees near the front door the owls 
and squirrels congregate as in the days of the " Little Women ; " 
and from Jo's room, which faced the south, tlieir merry gambols 
could be overlooked. Amy's room was behind her sister's, and 
both rooms are decorated by her pen and brush. Wayside, the 
home of the Ilawthornes from 1852 until Mr. Hawthorne's 
death, is the next in line. 

A few rods below, the parent vine still bears Concord grapes, 
althougli its originator. Mr. I>ull, has retired to tlie village. 
After walking a half-mile farther, the same sidewalk brings one 
to Merriam's Corner and to this tablet. 

TH1-: BRITISH TROOPS 

RETREATING FROM THE 

OLD NORTH BRIDGE 

WERE HERE ATTACKED IN FLANK 

BY THE MEN OF CONCORD 

AND NEIGHBORING TOW^NS 

AND DRIVEN UNDER A HOT FIRE 

TO CHARLESTOWN 

Thc'Medford and Heading companies, under the command of 
Gov. Brooks, were joined by the Concord minute-men Avho had 
marched across the great fields after their victory, and a sharp 
skirmish took place. 

ON THIS FIELD 

THE :minutemen and militia 

FORMED BEFORE MARCHING 

DOWN TO THE 

FIGHT AT THE BRIDGE 



76 THE CONCORD GUIDE BOOK. 

The above tablet marks the place where the little band 
of minute-men awaited re-enforcements from the neighboring 
towns, before marching down to the bridge. The approach to 
this by water has already been described. The road whicli goes 
around the two-mile Square passes it about midway ; and it can 
be reached from the Square by Lowell or Monument streets, 
by a very pleasant walk past the old Jones house, the Manse, 
the Battle-field, the home of Major Buttrick, and the tablet 
which marks the former home of Rev. Peter Bulkley. 



CHAPTER VI. 

HOUSES OF LITERARY INTEREST. 

The Home of Ralph Waldo Emerson is a plain, square, 
wooden bouse, standing in a grove of pine trees, which conceal 
the front and side from the gaze of passers. Tall chestnut 
trees ornament the old-fashioned yard, throuo-h which a road 
leads to the plain, yellow barn in the rear. A garden fills half 
an acre at the back, and has for years been famous for its roses 
and also has a rare collection of hollyhocks, the flowers that 
Woidsworth loved, and most of ihe old-time annuals and 
shrubs. From the road a gate, which is always open, leads 
over marble flag-stones to the broad, low step before the hospit- 
able door. 



78 THE CONCORD GUIDE BOOK. 

A long hall divides the centre of the house, with two large 
square rooms on each side ; a plain, solid table stands at the 
right of tliis entry, over which is an old picture of Ganymede. 

The first door on the right leads to the study, a plain, square 
room, lined on one side with simple wooden shelves filled with 
choice books; a large mahogany table stands in the middle, 
covered with books, and by the morocco writing pad lies the 
pen v/hich has had so great an influence for twenty-five years 
on the thoughts of two continents. A large fire-place, with 
a low grate occupies the lower end, over wdiich hangs 
a fine cop}^ of Michael Angelo's Fates, the faces of the strong- 
minded women frowning upon all who woukl disturb witli idle 
tongues this haunt of solemn thought. On the mantle shelf are 
busts and statuettes of men prominent in the great reforms of 
the age, and a quaint, rough idol brought from the Nile. A 
few choice engravings hang upon the walls, and the pine trees 
shade the windows. 

Two doors, one on each side of the great fire place, lead into 
the large parlor which fills the southern quarter of the house. 
Tliis room is hung with curtains of crimson and carpeted with 
a warm color, and when a bricrht fire is blazino; on the broad 
hearth reflected in the large mirror opposite, the effect is cheer- 
ful in the extreme. A beautiful portrait, of one of the daugh- 
ters of the house is hung in this pleasant and homelike room, 
whose home circle seems to reach around the world ; for almost 
every person of note who has visited this country, has enjoyed 
its genial hospitality, and listened with attention to the words 
of wisdom from the kindly master of the house — the most 



HOUSES OF LITERARY INTEREST. 



79 



modest and most gifted writer, and deepest thinker of the age. 
Years ago the chatty, little Frederika Bremer paid a long visit 
j^ here, a brisk old lad}^ as restless as her tongue 

and pen. Here Margjiret Fuller and the other 
bright figures of T/!t3 i>iaZ met for conversation. 
Thoreau was a daily visitor, and his '' Wood- 
Notes " might have been unuttered *but for tlie 
kind encouragement lie found bere. The Al- 
cotts, father and daughter, 
were near neighlors, and it was 




HOME OF EiMERSON. 

in this room that Mr. Alcott's earliest ''Conversations" were 
held, now so well known. Here, too, old John Brown was of- 



8o THE CONCORD GUIDE BOOK. 

ten to be met, a plain, poorly-dressed old farmer, seeming out 
of place, and absorbed in his own plans until some allusion, 
or chance remark, would fire his soul and light up his rugged 
features. 

But a dozen volumes would not give space enough to mention 
in full the many guests from foreign lands, who have been 
entertained at this house, which is also a favorite place for the 
villagers to visit. The school-children of Concord are enter- 
tained here every year with merry games and dances, and they 
look forward with great interest to the eventful occasion. 

The house was partially destroj^ed by fire in the spring of 
1873, and was rebuilt as nearly as possible like the former. 
During the buildiug a portion of the family found shelter in the 
Old Manse, the home of Mr, Emerson's grandfather, while Mr. 
Emerson himself visited Euro[)e. Upon his return an inv 
proniptu reception took place ; the citizens gathered at the 
depot in crowds, the school children were drawn up in two 
smiling rows, through which he passed, greeted by enthusiastic 
cheers and songs of welcome. All followed his carriage to the 
house and sung ''Home, Sweet Home," to the music of the 
band. A few days afterward he invited all his fellow-citizens 
to call and see him in his new home, and nearly all the inhabi- 
tants avaih-d themselves of the opportunity. 

The house stands on an old country road, up which the 
British marched on the memorable 19th of April, 1775. It is 
not necessary to speak of the writings of Mr. Emerson, as they 
are too well-known to need mention here. Mr. Emerson died 
on the 27th of April, 1882, and was buried on the following 



BOUSES OF LITERARY INTEREST. 8i 

Suiida}^ At the public funeral in the old church, Judge Hoar de- 
livered au address and read one of Watts's hymns ; Dr. Furness 
read selections from the Scriptures ; Rev. James Freeman Clarke 
gave an address, and after a prayer by Rev. Howard M. Brown, 
followed a sonnet by Mr. Alcott. 

The Old Manse which has been at various times the home 
of Emerson, stands at the left of the Battle Ground and is 
approached b}' an avenue of noble trees, which were originally 
black ash, a tree very rare in this part of New England. Many 
of these ash trees have died from age, and their places have 
been supplied by elms and maples. Two high posts of granite 
mark the entrance to tlie avenue, which extends for about two 
hundred feet to the door of the house. Opposite, across the 
narrow countr}- road, a hill overlooks the village, and gives a 
fine view of the winding river, and distant mountains. A 
solitary poplar crowns the summit of the hill, and affords a 
landmark to the river-voyager, as it can be seen for miles up 
and down the stream. A romantic legend is connected with 
this tree, about a party of young girls who were at school in 
the Old Manse, each of whom caused a tree to be set out, and 
called by her name. Year by year, the girls and trees grew up 
together in grace and beauty. At length, one by one, the old 
ladies died, and the trees died too, until one very old lady and 
this old weather-beaten poplar, alone remained. The lady for 
whom the surviving poplar was named, has gone to her rest, and 
the tree seems likely to follow before long. 

The large field at the left of the Old Manse, which divides 
it from the Battle Ground, was, centuries ago, the site of an 



82 



THE CONCORD GUIDE BOOK. 



Indian village, and often rough arrows and spear-lieads have 
been turned np by the plough. The savages probably chose 
this gentle slope by tlie river for the sake of the lisli with which 
it then abounded, for tlie earlier . settlers report a plentiful 
supply of shad and salmon, where now poor little breams and 




THE OLD MANSE. 

horn-pouts alone tempt the idle fisherman. Behind the house 
there extends to the river an ancient orchard of apple trees, 
which is in itself a monument of energy and faith, for it 
was set by Dr. Ripley, who came to the house in 1778, as 
stated below. Tlie house, built for Rev. William Emerson 



HOUSES OF LITERARY INTEREST. 83 

in the year 1765, and occupied by him the next year after 
his marriage to a daughter of the Rev. Daniel Bliss, with the 
exception of a few years wli^ n it was occupied by Hawthorne, 
has always been the home of ministers and the descendants ot 
the builder. Nearly all the old New England ministers have 
been entertained under its roof, and man}- questions affecting 
the beliefs of the age have been here discussed and settled. 
The room in wliich tliis article is written, was the study of the 
Rev. Ezia Riple)', vv^lio as stated elsewhere married the widow 
of the builder of the home, and liere thousands of sermons 
have doubtless been written. It is a small, square room with 
high wainscot and oaken beams overliead, witli a huge fire-place 
where four-foot sticks used to burn on great, high, brass 
andirons. 

It was in this room, too, tliat the ghost used to appear, 
according to Hawthorne, but it probably only existed in his 
brilliant imagination. Often, on a winter night, tlie latch of 
the old door has lifted without human help, and a gust of cold 
wind has swept into tlie room. 

Opposite the study, is a larger room, which is modernized by 
rare photographs and recent adornments, and is used as a parlor 
by its present owners, the grandchildren of the original pro- 
prietors. From this apartment a door opens into the ancient 
dining-room, in which the old-time ministers held their solemn 
feasts, and it is said that they were well able to appreciate the 
good cheer which covered the long table that nearly filled the 
narrow hall. In one corner of this room stands a tall clock, 
looking across at its life-long companion, the ancient desk of 



84 THE CONCORD GUIDE BOOK. 

Dr. Ripley ; and a set of curious, old, high-backed chairs recall 
the days of our upright ancestors. 

Opposite this room is a big kitchen with its enormous fire- 
place, which twenty-five 3'ears ago was used wholly by the 
present occupants for all purposes' of cooking. The hooks 
which held the long, iron crane on which the pots and kettles 
hung still remain, although a modern cooking stove occupies 
the chief part of the broad hearth. 

The Old Manse was the principal house of the town for many 
years, and probably the only one which had two stories, as 
almost all of the houses of its period were built with a lean-to. 
It was also tlie only one .which was built with two chimneys, 
thus giving a large garret, which is rich in the curious lumber 
of two generations, and stored with literature enjoyed only by 
the spider and the moth. In one corner, on tlie southern side, 
is a curious little room which has been always known as the 
"Saints' Chamber," its walls bearing inscriptions in the hand- 
writing of the holy men who have rested there. 

The room over the dining-room is perhaps the most interest- 
ing, for it was here that Emerson wrote "Nature" and also 
many of his best poems. Hawthorne describes this room, 
which he also used as his study, in his " Mosses from an Old 
Manse/' which was also written here. It has three windows 
with small cracked panes of glass bearing inscriptions traced 
with a diamond, probably by some of the Hawthorne family. 
From the northern window the wife of the Rev. William 
Emerson watched the progress of the 19th of April fight ; and 
one hundred ^^ears later, on the same day, her grandaughter. 



HOUSES OF LITERARY INTEREST. 



85 



who now occupies the room, pointed out to her guests the 



honored men who marched in 
over the old Nortli Bridge to 



monument and celebrate the mJ 



the memorable da\ 
mentioned, was 
home of Dr. Ezra 
sketcli fol 
Dr. Rii 



The Old/ 




long procession 
dedicate the new 
anniversary of 
Manse, as before 
for 3^ ears the 
Ripley, of whom a sliort 
lows. 

ley was born May 1st, 
1751, at Woodstock, Conn. 
He was the fifth of nine- 
^^1 teen children. His father 
#sJ'uas born in Hingham, 
/ Mass., on the farm first 
, / purchased by Wra. Ripley 
from England, at the first 
settlement of the town. Thir- 
ty years ago the seventh and 
eighth generations still lived 
'jt' on this farm. By his own 
^-^ ^ exertions, and the patronage 

of Dr. Forbes, of Gloucester, he fitted himself for college, 
and entered Harvard University in July, 1772. Owing to his 
high moral and religious character, he was called by his class- 
mates '' Holy Ripley." He became the pastor of the church 
in Concord, Nov. 7, 1778. The times were disordered and 
the currency depreciated. His salary of five hundred and fifty 
pounds, when paid, was found to be Avorth only forty pounds. 




86 THE CONCORD GUIDE BOOK. 

For many years lie did a man's work in the field, more than 
three days out of the week on an average, to snpport his family. 
Scarcely any minister ever took so deep an interest in the tem- 
poral prosperity of his people as Dr. Ripley. The honor of the 
town was almost as dear to him as that of his own family. 
Education, temperance, and morals were the subjects of his 
watchful care. He formed, more than seventy years ago, per- 
haps the first Temperance Society tliat ever was formed. He 
went round among his people and got them to agree to banisli 
intoxicating driidvs from funerals. But the following extracts 
from a notice of him by Mr. R. W. Emerson, will be more 
appreciated : 

'' He was a natural gentleman — no dandjs courtly, hospitable, 
manly and public spirited, his nature social, his house open to 
all men. His brow was open and serene to liis visitors — for he 
loved men and he had no studies, no occupations which com- 
pany could interrupt. His friends were liis study, and to see 
them, loosened his talents and his tongue. 

"He was open-handed, just, and generous. Ingratitude and 
meanness in his beneficiaries did not wear out his compassion. 
He bore the insult, and the next da\- his basket for the beggar, 
and his horse and chaise for the cripple were at their door. A 
man of anecdote, his talk in the parlor was chiefly narrative. 
We remember the remark of a gentleman who listened with 
much delight to his conversation, ' that a man who could tell a 
story so well, was company for kings.' An eminent skill he 
had in saying difficult and remarkable things. Was a man a 
sot or a spendthrift, or suspected of some hidden crime, or had 



HOUSES OF LITERARY INTEREST. 



87 



he quarreled with liis wife, or collared his fatlier, or was there 
any cloud or suspicious circuuistauces in his behavior, the good 
pastor knew his way straiglit to that point. In all such passages 
he justified himself to the conscience, and commonly to the 
love, of the person concerned. He was the more competent to 
these searching discourses from his knowledge of family history. 
He knew every body's grandfather, and seemed to talk with 
each person rather as the representative of his house and name 
than as an individuid. This, and still more his sympathy, made 
him incomparable in liis parochial visits, in his exhortations and 
prayers with sick and suffering persons." 

The Home of Nathaniel 
Hawthorne. Mr. Hawthorne 
returned to Concord from Len- 
nox in 1852, and bought of Mr. 
Alcott the small house which 
with later additions became 
his home. It then had about 
twenty acres of farm and wood 
land attached. It stands close 
upon tlie wayfaring of the Lex- 
ington road, about a mile south- 
ward from the centre of the vil- 
^^A ^^S^' ^"^^ Hawthorne gave to the 
place a name of his own choice, 
"The Wayside." 

MR. HAWTHORNES INKSTAND. ^ 

Only a few yards from the 
windows of the front, but separated from the grounds by a 




88 THE CONCORD GUIDE BOOK. 

hedge, is tlie higliway, along which the British troops advanced, 
April 19, 1775, and again retreated after their repulse by the 
Minute Men. A few feet behind the house a ridge of land 
slopes upward to a height of sixty or seventy feet, running be- 
side the road from the village to a point beyond the liouse ; 
and from the crown of this ridge, puffs of smoke and flame on 
the memorable battle-day showed wliere the patriotic farmers 
were posted to pick off the grenadiers below and turn their 
retreat into rout. About one half of the house as it now is 
existed at that time, and the low ceilings with heavy beams 
coming througli, together with the ganibrel roof of the older 
part, attest its antiquity. 

Although the name of '' The Wayside " applies to the physi- 
cal situation, Hawthorne probably also connected with it a fanci- 
ful symbolism. In the prefator}^ letter to a friend accompanying 
"The Snow Image," he wrote: "Was tliere ever such a weary 
delay in obtaining the slightest recognition from the public as 
in my case? I sat down hif the wayside of life, like a man 
under encliantment, and a shrubbery sprung up around me and 
the bushes grew to be saplings, and the saplings became trees, 
until no exit appeared possible through the entangling depths 
of my obscurity." I think it pleased him to conceive of him- 
self, even after he became famous, as sitting b}^ the wayside 
and observing the show of human life while it flowed by him. 
What was only a fancy at the time he wrote thus, in regard to 
the springing up of a maze of trees, has become fact in the 
dense, tall growth of firs, pitch-pines, larches, elms, oaks and 
white-birch, which now envelopes the hill. Many of these 



I/orSES OF LITERARY INTEREST. 91 

were set out by his direction, and give the scene the impress of 
lus taste. Close by the porch, too, is a flourishing hawtliorn 
tree, which serves as a silent record of his name. 

The whole place seems to be imbued with his character — 
open to all the worhl, yet unobtrusive and retiring, and pro- 
vided with mysterious, sheltered retreats. The rambling house 
has a plain domestic air ; and one end is covered with rose- 
vines and woodbine ; but the dark pines in front of the lawn, 
and the prevalence of evergreen trees on the hill, introduce a 
shadow}' presence like that of serious thoughts or a musing 
mind. Hearing the wind stir in their branches, one recalls 
Longfellow's dirge for Hawthorne, in which the pine tree's 
mui'nuir is spoken of as 

" The voice so like his own." 

A thicket of locust trees in one place spreads a drift of snowy 
blossoms amono- the darker bouo-lis in June; and the leafv hill- 
side distills sweet perfumes and a dew\' coolness at the close of 
hot summer days. 

From the house and ridge you look over fertile meadows to 
other low wooded hills. ''To me," wrote Hawthorne, ''there 
is a peculiar, quiet charm in these broad meadows and gentle 

eminences. They are better than mountains A few 

summer weeks among mountains, a lifetime among green 
meadows and placid slopes .... such would be my sober 
choice." 

Here he wrote his '' Tanglewood Tales" for children, before 
going to Europe. On returning he produced here his English 



92 THE CONCORD GUIDE BOOK. 

sketches, which formed the volume called ''Our Old Home ;'' 
and he was engaged upon his last, unfinished romance when, 
going for a short journey with the hope to recover strength, he 
died away from liome. This incomplete work, "Septimius 
Felton," has since been published. Its scene is laid at The Way- 
side itself; and as tlie period chosen was tliat of the RevoliN 
tion, such a setting was eminently fit. But tliere was another 
reason for it. The subject of '' Septimus " was a man's search 
for the means of earthly immortality, and b\^ a curious coinci- 
dence one of the former occupants of The Wayside had been 
interested in this same subject. " I know nothing of the his- 
tory of the house," said Hawthorne in a letter to a friend, " ex- 
cept Thoreau's telling me that it was inhabited a generation 
or two ago by a man who believed he should never die. I 
believe, however, he is dead ; at least I hope so ; else he may 
probably appear and dispute my title to liis residence." He 
never did appear in the flesh, but Hawthorne seems to have 
secured him immortality here below (though of a different 
kind), by putting him into a book. 

K this deathless person haunts the place at all, it must be in 
the form of a gray owl fond of appearing near the house at twi- 
light, or else of the whip-poor-wills and squirrels which also 
frequent the neighborhood. 

When he came back from England and Italy Hawthorne 
made some changes and additions, among other things putting 
up a small square structure above the main building. This he 
called "the tower," in half playful reminiscence of the tower 
he had so much enjoyed in the villa of Monte Onto, near 



f :":""!t:;' 




HAWTHOHNE's I'ATH IN THE WOODS. 



HOUSES OF LITERARY INTEREST. 95 

Florence. The top room of tliis tower he used as his study. 
Its character was very simple. A few pictures hung upon the 
walls, and on the mantel were two or three ornaments. His 
writing table was of the plainest style, having at one side a 
desk with a sloping lid, and at the other some dra\vers. On it 
stood the inkstand — still preserved — which he used in 
writing *' The Marble Faun" and his later works. It is 
an Italian bronze, with a cover representing the well- 
known lioy Strangling a Swan. In his last years ILuv- 
thorne sought relief from writing in a cramped position 
bv usino- a standing^ desk which he had had made near 
one of the windows. From any of tiiese wiinlows one 
may look out n[)on the tree-tops, and some of the blanches 
on one side almost brush the panes. IMaced above the 
rest of the house and approached by a steep Hight of cov- 
ered stairs fr<»ni the second story the room is thoroughly 
secluded and at the same time commands the pleasantest 
influences of its rural surrounding. 

But besides this Hawthorne had another study, out-of- 
doors, his favorite resort — the crest of the ridge already 
mentioned, behind the honse and looking down on its roof, 
the lawn, the road and the meadows. Tlie tangle of trees 
and underbrush extends back over the high ground un- 
broken for about half a mile, and on the edge of this 
Hawthorne used to pace up and down, among the sweet- 
fern and wild blackberries, meditating on whatever he 
purposed to write. 

From the lawn below the hill I have looked up and 



96 THE CONCORD GUIDE BOOK, 

seen Mr. Hawthorne's dark, quiet figure passing slowly 
across the dim light of mingled sky and branches, his 
tread measured, and his head bent — and he seemed to be 
at one with those surroundings, of eloquent and sombre 
pines, and the uncloying scent of the sweet-fern. Mr. 
Hawthorne's long out-door meditations in composing were 
explained by a remark he once made, that if he found 
he had been composing from a mood, lie felt almost guilty 
of having perpetrated a lie. 

The time for this was afternoon, and the mornings 
were usually given to writing. There on his Mount of 
Vision, as Mrs. Hawthorne called it, he dreamed perhaps 
as many unwritten books as those he published. His con- 
stant pacing along the brow of the hill wore an irregular 
path there, which is still visible. 

Since Hawthorne's death in 1864 nothing has been done 
to preserve the path his footsteps made ; yet nature, as ' 
if by a secret sympathy with his genius, has thus fin- 
refused to obliterate it, and it remains distinct amid the 
bordering wild-growth. 

During the last year of his life he occupied very often 
tiie small lower room upon the left of the house, where 
his books were collected. Here, in a voice rich and smooth, 
and changing in sympathetic cadence with the flow of wit 
and pathos, he read aloud the novels of Sir Walter Scott 
to his family. 

The property passed into the hands of his son-in-law, 
George Parsons Lathrop, in 1879, who sold it in May, 



Jl(,. 




S^'JIeoq^W 



THE STUDY IN THE TOWER. 



HOrSES OF LITERARY IXTEREST. 99 

1883, to Daniel Luthrop, Esq., the well-known publisher 
whose energy, judgment and literary taste have made his 
large and flourishing publishing house a power in the 
world of letters. 

Since his death in 1892, Mrs. Lothrop has used The AVayside 
as a summer residence, the family spending their winters in 
Boston. 

She has left the grounds unaltered from the original designs 
of Alcott and Hawthorne, only putting the estate in thorough 
order. Tiie interior shows every relic of Hawthorne care- 
fully preserved, wliile his old home is made beautiful with 
all the surroundings of a cultured taste. 

Mrs. Lothrop has made her noin da j[?Zwm6; of Margaret 
Sidney a household word in thousands of homes and hearts, 
by her sparkling contributions to the juvenile and other 
magazines, as well as by her delightful cliildren's books of 
which '^ The Five Little Peppers; and How They Grew," and 
''What The Seven Did " are very popular. 

July 27, 1884, their daughter Margaret was born, 
probably the first child born for a century under this ancient 
roof. 



'Neath the philosophic arches 
Of the solemn pines and larches, 

Where of old the moody genius dreamed and wrote, 
Winsome baby talk beguiles 
All the dim and shaded aisles, 

To echo with a higher, truer note. 



lOO THE CONCORD GUIDE BOOK. 



Miss Elizabeth P. Peabody, a sister of jMrs. Hawthorne, has 
devoted herself througli a long and busy life to philanthropic 
and educational labors. It was chiefly through lier instrumen- 
tality that the kindergarten was introduced into this countrj^ 
Slie has written much upon this and kindred subjects, being one 
of the few close interpreters of Froebel's system of child-devel- 
opment. 

The Poet Clianning^who lias lived in town for forty years, 
was a friend of Emerson, Hawthorne, and Thoreau ; of the last 
he has written a biography, as well as many other books in 
prose and verse, the best of which, '' Near Home," is a poetical 
guide book of Concord. 

Thoreau was born in Concord on tlie 12th of Jul}-, 1817, 
and graduated at Harvard College in 1837. Having a distaste 
for all professions he worked at the manufacture of lead pencils 
until he had made one which was pronounced perfect b\' the 
chemists and dealers, and fully equal to the best of foreign 
manufacture, and then said he would make no more. 

In writing of Thoreau's Home let us try to go back to the 
ancient Walden where Emerson walked through miles of his 
own woods, and where the hermit poet and philosopher Thoreau 
lived alone for over two years. Then Walden was a deep, well- 
like pond without visible inlet or outlet, half a mile in length 
and one and a half in circumference, wholly surrounded by hills 
which rise from forty to one hundred feet in height, densely 
covered with pine and oak trees. 

The water of Walden is cool in all weather and so transpar- 
ent that objects can be distinctly seen at a depth of twenty-five 



HOUSES OF LITERARY EVTEREST. loi 

feet. Tlie pond rises and falls, but it is impossible to tell what 
laws govern it, as it is often higher in a drought than in a rainy 
season. Ou the nortliern side is a high sand-bar which was 
l)are in 1825, but is now covered by about thiee feet of water, 
behind wliich a pleasant cove extends for about twenty rods to 
a gentle eminence on which stood Thoreau's house, built in 
1845, of tind)ers which grew on the spot, covered with boards 
which he brought from the shanty of an Irishman who had 
helped to buihl the railroad. Witli the exception of a little 
help in raising the frame, the house was the work of its owner 
and cost about thirty dollars. Jt was a completely weather- 
proof room, ten feet wide by fifteen long with a garret, closet, 
door and window, with two trap doors in the floor, and a brick 
chimney at one end. 

JNJovino- into this little house in 1845, Thoreau lived for eioht 
months, from July to the following May, at an expense of 
eight dollars and seventy-six cents or about one dollar nine 
cents per month. He cultivated a crop of beans to supply the 
small sum needed for his daily wants, thus being able to devote 
the greater part of his time to writing and stlld3^ He was a 
sincere philosopher and wished to protest by his simple life and 
habits against the foll}^ of devoting much time to the demands 
of society. He used to make long journeys on foot, thinking 
it was cheaper and c]^uicker than to devote the time to earnino- 
money for his railroad tickets, as he could easily walk thirty 
miles a day for weeks at a time. In this way he travelled over 
much of New England. He has left interesting accounts of 
these excursions, especially of his journeys through the Maine 



I02 THE CONCORD GUIDE BOOK. 

woods and lakes, and to Mt. Katahdiii and the other great 
mountains which tlie}^ contain. Often he wandered alone 
through these grand old primeval forests; at other times he 
took an Indian guide or joined some roving baud of savages 
who welcomed him as a lover of nature, and taught him their 
simple woodcraft, sometimes gliding for days in a birch canoe 
like an autumn leaf on the gentle lakes, or down the foaming 
rapids, and sometimes climbing rough mountain sides or scaling 
dangerous ])recipices. He knew just what could best sustain 
life, and travelled with as little baggage as possible. He could 
content himself without food or water longer than even the 
Indians, and was able to bear great extremes of heat and cold, 
and made a variety of experiments upon his powers of 
endurance. He is said to have slept one night in a barrel 
buried in a snow-drift to ascertain the warmtli of that kind 
of comforter. 

His walks about Cape Cod are full of interest, and are pub- 
lished in a book, as aie also his voyages on the Concord 
and INIerrimac rivers, which he carefully explored in an open 
boat. He also wrote a book on Walden itself which contains 
a chapter on wood sounds, whicli everybody who loves to be 
out of doors ought to know by heart. Although rather shy 
of strangers, Thoreau Avas always glad to welcome children to 
liis house, to walk with them through the woods, and teach them 
to love nature as he did. He was noted late in life as a lecturer, 
and was obliged to spend some of his evenings in city life, but 
he was always glad to go back to the woods and was never 
lonely when alone in their solitude. Living thus out of doors 



HOUSES OF LITERARY INTEREST. 103 

he became a close observer, could tell the notes of all insects, 
birds and animals, and the meaning wliich tliey wished to 
express. He knew where all the scarce and curious flowers 
grew, and discovered plants in Concord woods which no one 
liad ever seen there. He first found the climbing fern, and is 
said to have discovered the led snuw of the Arctic regions. He 
was an earnest admirer of old Jt)hn Brown, and made an elo- 
quent address in liis praise directly after his arrest at Harper's 
Ferry ; although his townsmen doubted the advisibility of it at 
the time as the current of public sentiment had not then begun 
to turn strongly in favor of the old hero. 

Thoreau was born in an old house ON the VIKGINIA ROAD 
whi«h still stands, and he died on the 6lh of May 1862, in the 
house now owned by Mrs. Pratt, who lives there at present with 
her father Mr. Alcott, and her sister Miss Louisa M. Alcott. 

It is the intention of his friends to mark permanently the site 
of Thoreau's home at Walden Pond with a monumental boulder 
which will be put in position with appropriate exercises and 
addresses by his friends. 

The house of the Hon. Samuel Hoar stands near the 
library on Main street. It is one of the most noted in Concord, 
if literary and political interests are considered. Of the life 
and character of its first proprietor, no description can exceed 
the grand and simple statement of his epitaph, recorded in the 
account of Sleepy Hollow. The same eulogy may be accorded 
his daughter who accompanied him on his famous journey to 
Charleston, when he was forcibly removed from the State by % 



I04 THE CONCORD GUIDE BOOK, 

» 
mob for attempting to test the legality of tlie imprisonment of 

free colored sailors. He was himself a member of and sent two 
sons to Congress, where one of them still continues his 
fearless and devoted labors in that capacity. The house oppo- 
site also sent the Hon. William Whiting to the same body, so 
that four United States Congressmen were furnished from a 
half acre of Concord ground. 

The Hon. E. R. Hoar was born in this lionse, his motlier 
being the daughter of Roger Sherman. He graduated at Har- 
vard. College in 1835, was Judge of the Court of Connnon Fleas 
from 1849 to 1855; Judge of tlie Supreme Judicial Court from 
1859 to 1869; Atty. Gen. of the U.S. from 1869 to 1870; 
Member of Joint High Commission which made the Treaty of 
Washington with Great Britain, in 1871 ; Fellow of Harvard 
College from 1858 to 1868 ; President of Board of Overseers of 
Harvard College 1879 and 80; Presidential Elector 1872; Mem- 
ber of the 44th Congress 1873 to 1875. 

Among his printed works may be mentioned. Report of Con- 
cord committee to build Soldiers' Monument, 1867 ; Address at 
laying corner-stone of Memorial Hall at Harvard College, Oct. 
6, 1870; Opinions in Massachusetts Reports from 13 Gray to 101 
Mass. ; Opinions as Attorney General of United States. He 
was identified for years witli the history of the town, whose 
people depended on him as they did on his father. Judge Hoar 
died in February, 1895. On the occasion of his funeral the 
Old Church was crowded with distinguished people. He was 
buried in the family lot in Sleepy Hollow. 

The Orchard House, noted as having been for many years 



HOUSES OF LITERARY INTEREST. 



105 



the home of the Alcott family, stands on the old Boston road 
about half a mile below the house of Emerson, and next to 
The Wayside, the house once owned and occupied by Haw- 
thorne. 

Amos Bronson Alcott was born at Walcott, Ct., Nov. 21)th, 
1799. He went to school until he was thirteen years old, and 
at the age of twelve began to keep a diar}^ a practice which he 
has continued the greater part of the time since. Still earlier 
he had read Bun3'an's Pilgrim's Progress, the book of all 
others which had tlie greatest influence on his mind. He learned 
to write by practising with chalk on his mother's kitclicn floor 
and became in his boyliood a skillful penman, so that liis iiist 
essay in teaching was as master of a writing school in Carolina 

At tlie age of fourteen, he worked for a while at clock 
making at Plymoutli, Ct., and in the same ^car went on an excur- 
sion into northern Coiniecticut, and western Massachusetts, sell- 
ing a lew articles as he went, to meet the expenses of his 
journey. 

On a similar journey in Virginia, a few years afterwards he 
was kindly received at the great houses of the planters, where 
he received generous hospitality and permission to explore their 
libraries, where he found many books he had never seen. Biog- 
rapliy was his favorite reading ; then poems and tales ; and 
books of metaphysics and devotion. 

His first school was in a district three miles from his home, 
where he taught for three months for ten dollars a month, 
and his board ; afterwards he taught a famous school at 
Cheshire, Ct. 



io6 THE CONCORD GUIDE BOOK. 

Ill Januaiy,1828, he wrote a brief account of liis method of 
teaching, which attracted much attention. He continued this 
system in a similar school in Bristol in the winter of 1827-8: 
and then removed to Boston to take charge of an infant school 
in Salem street, in June, 1828. In the following April, he 
opened a private school near St. Paul's churcli on Tremont 
street, in wliicli he remained until November 5th, 1830, when 
lie gave it up to open a school in Germantown, near Philadel- 
phia, where with liis associate, i\Ir. W. Rnssell, he remained a 
little more than two years. On the 22d of April, 1833, he 
opened a school in Philadelphia, which continued until Jul}', 
1834, soon after which, September 22, 1834, Mr. Alcott returned 
to Boston and there began his famous Temple school, concern- 
ing which so much has been written and published. 

He first gave his pnpils single desks, now so common, instead 
of the long benches and double or three-seated desks, still in 
use in some sections. He gave his youthfal pupils slates and 
pencils, and blackboards. He established a school library, and 
tanght them to enjoy the benefits of carefnl reading ; he broke 
awa}^ from the old rule of severe and indiscriminate punish- 
ments, and substituted therefor appeals to the affections and the 
moral sentiment of children, so that lie was able almost wholly 
to dispense with corporal punishment. He introduced, also, 
light gymnastic exercises, evening amusements at the school- 
room, the keeping of diaries by j'oung children, and, in general, 
an affectionate and reverent mode of drawing out the child's 
mind towards knowledge, rather than the pouring in of instruc- 
tion by mechanical or compulsory processes. 



HOUSES OF LITERARY INTEREST. 107 

Among the eminent women w ho took an interest in liis school 
may be named (besides Miss Martineau), Miss Margaret Fuller, 
Miss Elizabeth Peabody. her sister, tlie late Mre* Hawthorne^ 
and othersc Both Miss F idler and j\Iiss Peabody were assistant 
teachers in tlie Temple scliool at Boston, and Miss Peabody 
compiled tlie accounts of it which were published under the 
title of " Record of a Scliool," and '' Conversations with Chil- 
dren on the Gospels."' 

Mr. Alcott was one of the originators and mend)ers of the 
somewliat famous Transcendental Club, which met under various 
names, from I80G to 1850. It was hrst called " The Sym- 
posium," and met originally on the 19th of September, 1836, 
at the house of George Pipley, then a minister in Boston. In 
the October following, it met at Islx. Alcott's iiouse (16 Front 
street), and there were present JNIr. Emerson, George Ripley, 
Frederic 11. Hedge, O. A. Brownson, James Freeman Clarke, 
and C. A. Bartol. The subject of conversation tliat day was 
" American Genius ; causes which hinder its growth." Two 
years' later, in 1838, we find it meeting at Dr. Bartol's in 
Chestnut street, Boston, where of late years the "Radical 
Club" often gathered; there were then present ]Mr. Em- 
erson, Mr. Alcott, Dr. Follen, Dr. C. Francis, Theodore Par- 
ker, Caleb Stetson, William Russell, James Freeman Clarke, 
and John S. Dwight, the famous musical critic. The topic 
discussed was "Pantheism." In September, 1839, there is 
record of a meeting at the house of Dr. Francis, in Water- 
town, where, besides those already mentioned, jMargaret Fuller, 
William Henry Channing, Robert Bartlett, and Samuel J. ^lay, 



io8 THE CONCORD GUIDE BOOK'. 

were present. In December, 1839, at George Ripley's, Di\ 
Channing, Geoi;ge Bancroft, the sculptor Clevenger, the artist- 
poet C. P. Cranch, and Samuel G. Ward, were among the com- 
pan}^ Tliese names will give some notion of the nature of the 
Club, and the attraction it had for thinking and aspiring persons. 
In October, 1840, we find Mr. Alcott in consultation with 
George Ripley and Margaret Fuller, at Mr. Emerson's house, 
in Concord, concerning tlie proposed community, which was 
afterwards established at Brook Farm. In 1848, the Trans- 
cendental Club became the '' Town and Countr}' Club,'* on a 
wider basis, and in a year or two came to an end, having done 
its work. 

During this period of Transcendental agitation, from 1835 to 
1850, Mr. Alcott gradually passed through the various degrees 
of his progress as a reformer. In 1835, he gave up the use 
of animal food, and the next 3-ear invited Dr. Sylvester 
Graham to lecture in liis scliool. Still earlier he had joined 
the Anti-Slavery society, wlien founded bN' William Llo^^d Garri- 
son, and he was present at man}' of the celebrated gatherings 
of abolitionists — for instance at the Lovejoy meeting in Faneuil 
Hall, in 1837, when Wendell Phillips made his first appearance 
as an anti-slavery orator. 

In company witli Charles Lane, lie examined estates in order 
to choose one for the proposed communit}', and finally Lane 
bought the " Wyman Farm," in Harvard, consisting of ninety 
acres, with an old farm-house upon it, where JNL*. Alcott and 
his family, with Mr. Lane and a few others, took up their resi- 
dence in their new home " Fruitlands ; " which experiment was 










"^U'J^^^^^.?^^. 



'\ 



MR. ALCOTT S HOME. 



HO USES OF LITER A R Y INTER ES T 1 1 1 

not a financial success. He finally abandoned the farm, in 
povert}^ and disappointment, about the middle of January, 
J 844. Tlie lesson tlius taUght was a severe one, but Mr. Alcott 
looks back upon it as one of the turning points ii\ his life. 
From that day forward, he has had less desire to change the 
condition of men upon earth than to modify and eidighten 
their inward life. He soon after returned to Concord, and in 
1845 bought a small farm there witli an old liouse upon it, 
wliich lie rebuilt and christened " Hillside." A few years later 
when it passed into the hands of Nathaniel Hawthorne, he 
changed the name to " Wayside." It is the estate next east of 
the Orchard House in Concord. At '' Hillside " Mr. Alcott 
gardened and gave conversations, and in the year 1847, 
while living there, he built in jNlr. Emerson's garden, not 
far off, the unique summer liouse which ornamented the grounds 
until within ten 3-ears past, when it decayed and fell into ruin. 
In 1848 he removed from Concord to Boston, and did not return 
until 1857. Since then he has lived constantly in Concord. 

In 1858 he became the Superintendent of the Public Sciiools 
of Concord, and wrote very admirable reports of them. 

He fur a few years published many essays, poems, and conver- 
sations in the Boston Commonwealth and The Radical, between 
1863 and 1868, and in the last-named year brought out a modest 
volume of essays entitled "Tablets." This was followed, in 
1872, by another volume styled "Concord Days," and still other 
volumes have since appeared. IMr. Alcott has been pressed to 
write his autobiography, for which his journals and other 
collections would give him ample material, and it is to be hoped 



112 THE CONCORD GUIDE BOOK. 

he will appl}' himself to this task. Should the work include 
his correspondence with contemporaries, it would be of ample 
bulk and of great value. 

At all times he was enamored of rural pursuits, and he prac- 
ticed gardening with zeal and success. His Orchard House 
estate, of a few acres only, was laid out and for }• ears cultivated 
by himself. It was a favorite theory of Mr. Alcott's through all 
this period of agitation and outward activity, tliat he could prop- 
agate his ideas best by conversations. Accordingly, from 1839 
to the present time, a quarter of a century, he has held conver- 
sations on liis cliosen subjects, and in many and widel}' separated 
parts of tlie countr}'. In later times he has visited and spoken in 
tlie schools wherever lie happened to be lecturing or conversing, 
particularly at the West, where he has been warmly welcomed 
in his annual tours. His home has been at all times a center 
of hospitalit}', and a resort for persons with ideas and aspira- 
tions. Not nnfrequently his formal conversations have been 
held there; at other times in the parlors of his frieuds, at 
public halls or college rooms, or in the chambers of some club. 
Mr. Alcott has held opinions and engaged in enterprises, during 
his lifetime, which would not have commanded the entire 
approbation of his townsmen, had they been called to pass 
judgment upon them ; but with the general result of his long 
and varied life, neithei* they nor he can have reason to be dis- 
satisfied. He lias not accumulated riches, nor attained political 
power, nor made labor superfluous and comfort cheaper by 
ingenious mechanical inventions. But he has maintained, at all 
times and amid many discouragements, the Christian doctrine 



HOUSES OF LITERARY INTEREST. 113 

that tlie life is more than meat, and that the perishing things of 
this world are of small moment compared with things spiritual 
and eternal. He has devoted himself, in youtli with ardor, in 
mature and advancijig yearj^ with serene benevolence, to the 
task of improving the liearts and lives of men, by drawing 
their attention to tlie sweetness of philosophy and the charm 
of a religion at once contemplative and practical. There is no 
higher work than this, and none that leaves so plainly its 
impress on the character and aspect of him who spends a life- 
time in it. 

Mrs. Alcott was a daughter of Col. Joseph May, of Boston, 
and was born in that city, October 8, 1800. The Rev. Samuel 
J. May, of Syracuse, whose memoir has been quoted, was her 
elder brother, born 1793. Tt was at his parsonage house in 
Brookl\n that she first met JNIr. Alcott, in 1827, when he was 
teaching school in Cheshire, and it was largely on her account 
and through the efforts of her family and friends that he went 
to Boston, in 1828, and took charge of the Salem street infant 
school. They were married May 23, 1830, and resided in 
Boston until their removal to Germantown in the following 
winter. Their oldest daughter Anna Bronson, now Mrs. Pratt, 
(the mother of Miss Alcott's "• Little Men ") was born at 
Germantown, March 16, 1831, and Miss Alcott herself (Louisa 
May) was born at Germantown, Nov. 29, 1832, A third 
daughter, Elizabeth Sewall, was born in Boston, June 24, 1835, 
and died in Concord, March 14, 1858. Miss May Alcott, the 
youngest of the four daughters, a well-known artist, was 
bora in Concord, July 26, 1840, and died in Paris in December 



114 THE CONCORD GUIDE BOOK. 

1879,' liiiviiig earned great fame as an artist, especially in her 
copies of Tnrner's pictures, in which one of the greatest critics 
of England pronounced her unsurpassed. She lived for a time 
in London and Paris, where she won hosts of friends, and several 
art prizes in the exhibitions. She married Mons. Nieriker, and 
died after a short illness deeply lamented, leaving a daughter 
Louisa. 

The eldest of the four sisters, Anna Bronson Alcott, named 
for her grandmother, was married May 23, 1860, the auiiiversary 
of her mother's wedding day, to Mr. John B. Pratt, of Concord, 
a son of Minot Pratt, one of the Brook Farm community in 
former years, and afterwards an esteemed citizen of Concord. 
Their children are the famous ''Little Men" — Frederick 
Alcott Pratt, born March 28, 1863, and John Sewall Pratt, 
born June 24, 1866. Mrs. Pratt was left a widow by the 
sudden death of her luisband Nov. 27, 1870, and has since 
resided much of the time, with her two sons, at her father's 
house in Concord. 

Miss Louisa May Alcott, tlie popular writer of humorous 
and pathetic tales, owes her training, and thus her success in 
writing, to her father and mother more than to all the world 
beside. Her instruction for many years came almost wholly 
from them, and though her genius has taken a direction 
quite other than that of Mr. Alcott (guided strongly by lier 
mother's social humor and practical benevolence), it still has 
many traits of resemblance ; while ihe material on which it 
works is largely drawn from the idyllic actual life of the 
Alcott family. It can scarcely be remembered when Miss 




A. BRONSON ALCOTT. 



HOUSES OF LITERARY IiVTEREST. 113 

Alcott (lid not display the story-telling talent, either with her 
voice or with her pen. Her first book was published twenty-five 
years ago, and was written several 3'ears before that. 
For a long period afterwards she contributed copiously to 
newspapers and periodicals of no permanent renown, though 
some of the pieces then written have since appeared in her 
collection of tales. Her first great success as a writer was 
in 1863, wlien, after a brief experience as an army nurse, 
followed by a long and almost fatal illness, she contributed 
to tlie Boston Commonwealth those remarkable "Hospital 
Sketches." These were made up from her letters written home 
during her army life, and bore the stamp of reality so strongly 
upon them, that the}" caught at once the popular heart. They 
were re- printed in man}" newspapers, and in a small volume, and 
made her name known and beloved all over the North. From 
that time forward slie has been a popular writer for the periodi- 
cals, but her great success as an author of books did not begin 
until she found a publisher of the right quality in Mr. Thomas 
Niles, of the Boston firm of Roberts Brothers, who have now 
published all her works for ten years. Within that time the 
"Little Women " and tlieir successors have been published, and 
the sale of all her books has exceeded a quarter of a million 
copies. Her earliest novel, " Moods," published in 1864, by A. 
K. Loring, of Boston, did not at first command much attention, 
but many thousand copies have since been sold. Her second nov- 
el " Work," was published by Roberts, in the summer of 1873, 
and at once had a great sale, both in America and in Europe. 
Many of her books have been translated into French and Ger- 



ii6 THE COXCORD GUIDE BOOK. 

man, and there are now few living autliors whose works are 
so universally read. 

Dr. W. T. Harris, tlie well-known writer on philosophic 
and educational topics, purchased tlie Orchard House of 
Mr. Alcott in 1884. He was attracted to this town by 
his interest in the Concord Scliool of Pliilosopliy, of whicli 
he was one of the original founders. Dr. Harris slill de- 
votes himself to tlie interests of education, on which theme 
he delivers lectures at tlie conventions held in different parts 
of the country. He was superintendent of the St. Louis 
Public Schools for twelve years, and his annual reports were 
greatly esteemed as education documents and received hon- 
orable mention at the World Exposition at Paris and 
secured for him the honorary title of " Officer of the 
Academy " from the French Minister of Education. Dr. 
Harris founded, in 1867, and still edits, The, Journal of Specu- 
lative Pliilosopliy^ the first periodical devoted to its special 
theme in the English language. Besides these works he 
has also published many articles in the North American 
Revietv, Atlantic 3Ionthl?/^ and the educational journals of 
tlie country. Dr. Harris was also associate editor of 
Johnson's Cyclopccdia, writing for it forty of the more 
important articles on philosophic subjects. In 1878 he 
compiled and edited the Appleton's School Readers which 
have had an immense sale in all parts of tlie United- 
States. In the grove back of tlie Orchard House Dr. 
Harris has erected a tower around the tallest pine on 
the crest of the hill with safe stairs ascending to the top 



HOUSES OF LITERAR Y INTEREST. 1 1 7 

from which fourteen of tlie moiiutains of Massachusetts 
and Kew Hanii:)3hire can be seen. 

The house of F. B. Sanborn is now situated at the 
upper part of Main street at the bend of the river near 
the stone bridge. Mr. Sanborn came to Concord in March, 
1855, the year of his graduation at Harvard College. He lived 
in the house opposite Thoreau, (then tlie residence of Eller\' 
Channing,) and took his dinnei's at the same house with Thoreau, 
and became a frequent companion of his daily walks and rows 
on the river. 

He started the Concord School which lasted eight years, 
at wliich were several i^iipd-^ ii<J^v' noted in literature. He be- 
came interested in John Brown, whom lie first brouoht to 
Concord in 1857, and who made his celebrated Kansas speech in 
March of that 3^ear, in which his simjjle eloquence insjjired tlie 
citizens to open their hearts and purses for the relief of Kansas. 
He passed a portion of liis last birthday, May 9th, 1859, at Mr. 
Sanborn's house, leaving at noon for his noted camijaign in Vir- 
ginia, having spoken at the Town Hall on the previous evening. 
Funeral services of great impressiveness were held on the death 
of John Brown, Dec. 2d, 1859, for which the hymn was written 
by Mr. Sanborn, and addresses were made by Emerson, Thoreau, 
and others. During the progress of these exercises Rev. E. H. 
Sears wrote his celebrated and prophetic ode to the memor}^ 
of the old hero. 

On account of his complicity and supposed knowledge of 
the plans of John Brown, Mr. Sanborn was summoned to appear 
to testify before a committee of the U. S. Senate, of which 



ii8 THE CONCORD GUIDE BOOK. 

Mason of Virginia, was the cliairman. On his refusal to comply 
with this demand, the United States Marshal with four men came 
to liis house, and after calling him out on a false pretence, hand- 
cuffed him and would have carried liini away, had not his sister 
by her vigorous attack npon the men and tlieir horses prevented 
them until her outcries had sunnnoned a crowd of his infuriated 
fellow-citizens to liis aid. Judge Hoar issued a writ of habeas 
corjjus, upon which lie was discharged the next day by Judge 
Shaw of the Supreme Court. On his return home the same 
day, April 4th, he was received by his townsmen with a salute 
of cannon and other testimonials of rejoicing, and a public meet- 
ing was held at which Col. Iligginson and others made congrat- 
ulatory remarks. Mr. Sanborn became an editor of the Com- 
momvealtli in 1863, and left it in 1868 to become an editor of the 
Springfield Republican^ with which paper he is still connected. 
In 1863 he was appointed by Gov. Andrew, Secretary of the 
Board of State Charities, in which Board he continued for 
twelve years, and with Dr. Howe, Dr. Wheelwright and others, 
reorganized the whole charitable sj^stem of the State, introducing 
many clianges which have since been widely copied. 

For many years lie has been a contributor to Scribners Monthly^ 
for which he wrote the illustrated article on Emerson ; and 
an occasional writer in the Atlantic 31ontlily^ in which his most 
noticeable papers were those on John BroAvn, upon whose biog- 
raphy he is now engaged. To this work he proposes to devote 
his best energies in order to make it worthy of its subject. His 
home has often given shelter to fugitive slaves, and once was the 
place of concealment of two of John Brown's soldiers, when a 



HOUSES OF LITERARY INTEREST. ii9 

large reward was offered for their apprehension. He was one 
of the founders and Secretary of tlie Social Science Associ- 
ation, and, with Mr. Alcott, originated tlie Concord School of 
Philosophy. 

Of the many distinguished writers, who have from time to 
time made Concord their home, William S. Rcjbinson ('' War- 
rington") is one of tlie very few wlio were born in that 
rare old town. His ancestors were of Englisli and Welsh 
descent, and on both the father's and mother's side, had lived 
there for two generations. 

Lieut. Col. John Robinson, wlio '' led tlie soldiers in double 
file," on the famous 19th of April, 1775, was a brother of Mr. 
Robinson's grandfather. His maternal grandfather, Lieut. 
Emerson Cogswell, (a descendant of one of the ancestors of 
Mr. R. W. Emerson) was one of the minute men of Concord, 
and a member of the Committee of Public Safety of that town 
during the revolution. This committee afterwards became the 
"Social Circle," and Mr. Cogswell was one of its founders. 

Mr. Robinson was born Dec. 7, 1818, in what is now called 
the "old block," (near the Unitarian church) once his grand- 
father's homestead. He was educated in the public schools 
of the town, and at seventeen years of aire beoan to learn 
the printer's trade. When twenty-one, he became editor 
and proprietor of the Yeoman s Gazette, afterwards called tlie 
Concord Bepuhlican. In 1842, the Republican was merged in 
the Loivell Courier and Journal, and Mr. Robinson moved to 
that city, and became one of its editors. Subsequently he was 
the editor of the Boston Daily Whig, and the Boston Rejmbli' 



I20 THE COXCOKD GUIDE BOOK. 

can^ leading free-soil newspapers of 1848-9. For nearly four 
years he edited and published a free-soil and anti-slaver}^ news- 
paper which he had started in Lowell, called the Lowell 
American. He wrote letters and ai-ticles for the Boston Com- 
monwealth, the Atlas and Bee; the New York Tribune, the 
Evening Post, and many of the other leading newspapers in 
the country. 

He was one of the founders of, and leaders in, the free-soil, 
and republican party. For twenty years, during the fiercest of 
the anti-slavery struggle, and the war of the rebellion, he 
wrote for the Springfield Bepuhlican. It was through his 
letters to this newspaper, that lie became known as the re- 
nowned Avar correspondent, and made famous his nom de plume 
of " Warrington." In all his writings, lie advocated the 
freedom of the slave, personal and political purity, and the 
equal rights of woman. One of his most distinguished con- 
temporaries in the field of journalism said of him : " He was 
the sharpest, steadiest, truest journalist, in all the might}^ battle 
for freedom." He was Secretary of tlie Constitutional Con- 
vention of 1853, and eleven years Clerk of the Massachusetts 
House of Representatives. 

His published works are, Warrington's Manual of Parliamen- 
tary Law ; The Salary Grab ; and a volume of selections from 
his writings, (Warrington Pen Portraits, Avith a Memoir by Mrs. 
Robinson) published after his death. 

He died March 11th, 1876, and lies buried in Sleepy Hollow 
Cemetery. 



HOUSES OF LITERARY I XTEREST. \z\ 

William W. Wheildon was born in Boston. He was 
educated in tlie public schools, and when he was a boy, dur- 
hig the sickness of one of the carriers, used to distribute 
around the west end of the town the New England Palla- 
dium. In 18'22 lie went to Haverhill, as an apprentice 
to the priming business, with Nathaniel Greene ; returned to 
Boston with liim, and assisted in the issue of the first num- 
ber of tlie American Statesmayi. In 1827 i\lr. Wlieihlou 
established the Bunker Hill Aurora^ at Charlestown, and 
continued its proprietor and editor until September, 1870, 
more than forty years. A complete llle of the Aurora for all 
these years is now in the public library at Charlestown, and 
contains tlie material for a full and complete history of the 
town during that period. In 1846 Mr. Wheildon moved to 
Concord, Avliere he die<l in 1892, and where he wrote many 
valuable scientific works. 

Mr. G. W. Curtis lived in Concord for two years, and she 
is proud to claim him also as a native. He was born in 
Providence, R. I., Feb. 24th, 1824, and came to Concord in 
1844 and remained over two years, working a part of each 
day on a farm, and devoting the rest of his time to study. 
After a long journey in the Levant, lie published, 'in 1851-52, 
his exquisite pictures of Oriental life, entitled "• Nile Notes 
of a Howadji, " '' The Howadji in Syria ; " and '' Lotus Eat- 
ing," " Prue and I,'' " Trumps," and other books hav'c since 
been published, and with his editorial work in Harper'' s Weekly^ 
and in tlie '' Easy Chair " of Hnyers Magazine^ have well 
earned for him the distinction of being '' one of the clearest 



122 THE CONCORD GUIDE BOOK. 

and tersest writers of the day." As a lecturer, he was seldom 
equalled for brilliancy, grace, and polish, while his fame as a 
political and patriotic orator is unsurpassed. For this reason 
he was often selected to deliver tlie oration at the dedication 
of the principal Soldiers' Monuments in many parts of the 
countiy. 

He was chairman of tlie first civil service commission, and 
was one of the most interested and influential workers in 
that reform. He died Aug. 31, 1892. 

On the other side of Main street is the birthplace of the 
Hon. William Whiting, who graduated at Harvard College in 
1833, and began the practice of the law in 1838. His prac- 
tice soon became so extensive and varied that the Court of 
Common Pleas was often humorously called Whitings Court. 
He soon turned his attention chiefly to patent cases, of which 
he studied the mechanical details so closely, as to be able to 
instruct his clients upon practical defects in their inventions 
as well as upon the law. In 1862-65 he was the solicitor of 
the War Department, in which oflice his services, which lie 
gave gratuitously, were of immense importance to the coun- 
try at its most critical need. He was president of the New 
England Historic Genealogical Society from 1853-58, and a 
member of many of the societies in the United States de- 
voted to antiquarian and similar researches. He has left over 
thirty published works on legal and historic topics, and his 
work on the "War Powers of the President" has passed 
through forty-three editions in tliis country and abroad. He 
was elected to Congress in 1872, but died in June. 1873, 
before taking his seat. 



HOUSES OF LITERARY INTEREST. 



123 



Hon. George Frisbie Hoar, who was born in Concord, August 
29th, 1826, graduated at Harvard, and settled in Worcester in 
1849, where he has since resided. He had perhaps the largest 
practice in Massachusetts west of Boston, being extensively 
retained in the conduct of important cases. 

He was a member of the Lesrislature in 1852, and cliairman 
of committee of probate and chancery. In 1857 of the State 
Senate, and chairman of the committee of tlie judiciary. 

He was elected representative from Worcester to XL!., XLH., 
XLH., and XLIV. Congresses, declined re-election t(^ XLV., 
but was elected to the U. S. Senate to succeed Geo. S. Bout- 
well, and took seat March 5th, 1877. 

He was autlior of the bill to extend national education in tlie 
Soutli, which passed the House, but was not acted on in the 
Senate. Cliairman of committee of House of Representatives 
in 1875, at request of Legislature of Louisiana, to investigate 
election returns of 1884, and wrote report of a part of the com- 
mittee, consisting of W. A. Wheeler (vice-pres.), W. P. Frye 
of Maine, and himself. One of tlie managers of the Belknap 
impeachment in 1876, selected by his associates to argue the 
question of jurisdiction, the only serious legal difficulty in- 
volved in the trial. Member of the committee which formed 
the Electoral Commission Bill of 1876 ; and one of the few 
Republicans in the House w^ho advocated the measure, and 
was chosen a member of the commission. One of the founders 
of the Worcester Free Institute. 

The Rev. Grindall Reynolds was settled as pastor of the 
Unitarian societv on the 8th of Julv, 1858. His house stands 



T24 THE CONCORD GUIDE BOOK. 

on Main street, and is partially shaded by a magnificent elm. 
His garden abonnds in flowers and frnit, and the Sudbnry River 
flows at its foot. On the banks of the river o-rows a beautifnl 
clump of willows, under wliich several boats are moored. As 
before stated, Mr. Reynolds is a close student of history, and 
has made many valuable contributions to magazines and books 
on tliat and kindred subjects. For full information on the his- 
tory of Concord, and tlie imp(n'tant part taken by her citizens in 
the Shays Rebellion, of wliicli it is not in tlie province of this 
little ])ook to treat (as it is a guide-book, not a histoiy), readers 
are i-ef erred to Mr. Reynolds's able paper on Concord in Drake's 
book, and to his pamphlets on Shays's Rebellion and Concord 
Fight, which are considered the most able and exhaustive 
papers on these subjects ever published. He has at various 
times published, in the Atlantic and other magazines, articles 
of historical interest, a partial list of wliicli is given. 

A discourse on leavinor the old meetinof-house at Jamaica 
Plain. 

A discourse on the deatli of Gen. Zachary Ta3dor, July 
21st, 1850. 

A lecture before the American Institute of Instruction ; 
Moral Office of the Teacher; Parish Organization; John Cal- 
vin; Rationale of Prayer; Mexico; Fortnight with the Sani- 
tary Commission ; English Naval Power and English Colonies ; 
French Struggle for Naval and Colonial Power; Saints Who 
have had Bodies ; Late Insurrection in Jamaica ; Borneo 
and Rajah Brooke ; Ab3^ssinia and King Theodore ; Concord 
Fight ; Siege of Boston ; From Ticonderoga to Saratoga ; Our 



HOUSES OF LITER A R V EV TERES T. 125 

Bedouins, and What shall We do with Them? The New 
Religion. 

Williara Munroe was born in Concord, Mass., June 
24th, 1806. 

His fatlier, William ^lunroe, was a descendant of the INlun- 
roes of Lexington, of Revolutionary fame, and was himself 
worthy of note as the first, and for many years the onlj', manu- 
facturer of lead pencils in the United States. 

His mother was of the Greenougli family of Boston, and 
daughter of Capt. Jolni Stone, architect and builder of the 
first bridge connectino: Charlestown witli Boston. 

William was the eldest of nine children. He was, in his 
youth, conscientious, earnest, generous, and reliable ; and 
these, added to strict integrity, unfailing industry, and marked 
unseltishness, were his ruling characteristics through all his 
business career, and to the close of life. As was recorded by 
one of his friends: '^ Durino^ his lonof life he was noted for 
his many acts of disinterested kindness; his career as a busi- 
ness man was most honorable ; he was straio-litforward in all 
his dealings ; while those Avho enjoj'ed his friendship found in 
him purity of purpose which gave a charm to his quiet life." 

He had a delicate constitution; and altliough prepared to 
enter college when quite young, a student's life was not 
considered advisable for him, and at the age of fifteen he 
entered a store in Boston, where lie soon gained the confi- 
dence of his employers, and very early was intrusted with 
the care of purchasing goods in New York and in Europe, 
and subsequently became a partner in the firm. He was 



126 THE CONCORD GUIDE BOOK. 

afterwards engaged in business with parties in England and 
this country, and finally became a member of the firm of 
Little, Alden, & Co., Boston. He was one of the prime 
movers in establishing the " Pacific Mills "' at Lawrence, Mass., 
to the interests of whicli he gave the last few years of his 
business life. 

In 18()1 his health failed, and he was obliged to ]-etire from 
active business. After an extended tour tlirougli Eurooe, 
he returned to Boston where lie resided until 1876. 

He devoted much of his time during the last years of his 
life to making plans for the benefit of his native town, and 
especially for the erection and endowment of a Free Public 
Library, which he lived to see completed as it now stands; 
and plans for the future addition of an Art Museum, etc., 
gave him occupation and delight during the many weeks 
and months of severe bodily suffering which he was called 
to bear, and which terminated his life. He died at the home 
of his sisters, in Concord, April, 27th, 1887, at the age of 
seventv-one. 

The Concord Grape, now so well known all over the 
country, may properly be mentioned in this connection. This 
grape was produced by the scientific process of hybridizing, by 
Mr. Ephraim Bull of Concord. It is believed to be a cross 
between the Isabella and the native wild grape, from which it 
was obtained. The grapes prior to this in Massachusetts were 
the Isabella, Catawba, Diana, and one or two others, all of which 
were more or less uncertain in ripening their fruit, as they are 
at the present time. The Concord was introduced to the public 



HO USES OF LI TERA K V IN TERES T. 127 

in 1855, and immediately became very popular, not only in New 
England, for whic^i it was specially fitted by its early ripening, 
Ijut all over the country. Nursery-men everywhere multiplied 
tlie plants as fast as they were able, and in a few 3 ears there 
were tliousands of vines all over the countrj^, as there are now 
millions of them, in the numerous vineyards of the South and 
West. 

In 1852, Mr. James S. Lippincott of New Jersey, in the Agri- 
cultural Report of that year, remarks that many hardy northern 
grapes " find in lower latitudes and warmer zones a more con- 
genial climate, and attain there a degree of perfection never 
reached farther north. Thus tlie Concord is so highly esteemed 
in some parts of tlie West, in lower latitudes, as almost to sur- 
pass the Delaware." In some respects it does surpass the Dela- 
ware, whicli rarely ripens in the New England States. 

In 18(38, in Iowa, 50,000 gallons of wine were made in Des 
Moines county alone, and it was said, " the Concord is the favor- 
ite grape, though many others are grown." 

In Missouri, in 1868, it was said, ''thousands of pounds of 
grapes are now produced where one pound was grown tAventy 
years ago." " Tlie Concord maintains its reputation in all parts 
of the State." " The Concord Avith ample room, frequently pro- 
duced one hundred pounds to the vine." ]\Ir. Husmann "thinks 
it will produce the wine for the masses; "a life and health inspir- 
ing, gentle stimulant, destined to become the every-day drink 
of the sturdy laborer, and supplant the fiery whiskey that has 
been too long the national beverage." 

In Wisconsin, in 1868, the Concord was the favorite variety; 



128 THE CONCORD GUIDE BOOK. 

and in Michigan, it Avas said, the Concord and Delaware were 
the most extensively [)lanted. In Ohio, the same year, 143,767 
gallons of wine were produced, largely from the Concord grape. 
It ripens early everywhere, and is admitted to he a good table 
grape, and some years ago, all tlu'ougli the West and North west, 
was regularly sold to })assengers at all tiie railroad stations east 
of the Rocky Mountains. In the great region beyond the Mis- 
sissippi, as well as throughout New York, the Lake Region, 
Pennsylvania, and Virginia, tliere are thousands of acres of 
vineyards and millions of vines. The nursery-men in the West- 
ern States sell hundreds of thousands of vines, one, two, and 
three yeai\s old, and in some years were not aljle to su2)ply the 
demand. It is entirely safe to say that no single fruit of any 
kind ever produced has been received with such favor, given 
such iniiversal satisfaction, or been so widely spread, in our 
own, and to a considerable extent in foreign countries. 



CHAPTER VII. 



FREE PUBLIC LIBKARY. 



In its Free Public Library Concord feels a just pride. 
To the visitor it is one of tlie first and most attractive points of 
interest. 

The Librar}^ bnilding, thongh quite picturesque in appear- 
ance, is of no positive order of architecture, but rather a com- 
bination of the okl and the modern styles. From every j^oint 
of view, it strikes the eye most pleasantly, and is a decided 
ornament to the town. The front view is particularly attrac- 
tive, suggesting a L-rouj) of buildings rising successively one 
above the other. It is situated in a central and beautiful 
portion of the village, on the slightly elevated part of an 
acre of land, triangular in shape, at tlie junction of Main and 

129 



I30 THE CONCORD GUIDE BOOK. 

Sudbury streets. A full description of tlie building would 
require more space than can well be spared. The engraving 
presents a good idea of its outward appearance from one point 
of view. 

The plans of the building, its construction, and the interior 
fixtures were completed under the direction, and at the expense 
of Mr. Wm Munroe, as a gift to his native town. The build- 
ing and land adjoining were conveyed by him in trust to the 
Concord Free Public Library, subject to certain conditiojis and 
restrictions, as follows : " To forever keep and maintain there- 
upon a building for a public library, for tlie use of the iidiabi- 
tants of Concord ; that no building shall ever be erected upon 
the granted premises, except for the use of the public librar}^, 
as aforesaid ; and tlie ground not so used, to remain open for 
light and air, and as an ornamental enclosure for the benefit of 
the inhabitants of Concord, but without a right in said inhabi- 
tants to go upon, or use the same, except for reasonable access 
to said library, under such regulations as may be made by said 
Corporation," etc. 

The building was dedicated for the use of the library on the 
1st of October, 1873, with ceremonies appropriate to the 
occasion. 

A circulating library has existed in Concord probabl}^ for a 
longer period of time than in any other town in the United 
States. 

Most of the early settlers in Concord, were men of liberal 
education and refinement, though, as with the Puritans gener- 
ally, the religious sentiment predominated far above the intel- 



FREE PUBLIC LIBRA RY. 131 

lectual. " The religious bias of our founders," says Mr. 
Emersou, '' had its usual effect to secure an education to read 
the Bible and hymn-book, and thence the step was easy for 
active minds to an acquaintance with history and with poetry.'* 

In 1672, the town, by a committee, instructed the select men 
to see '' that care be taken of the Books of Martyrs and other 
books that belong to the town, that they be kept from abusive 
usage, and not be lent to persons more than one month at a 
time." How long previous to this record, that little nucleus of 
a library existed here, can only be conjectured, but as Bulkeley, 
Flint, and others, brought with them from England quite 
respectable sums of money, and personal property of various 
kinds, no doubt those " Books of Martyrs," and other books 
were among the effects brought into Concord by those religious 
enthusiasts in 1635, and freely circulated, to keep alive the 
sentiment which prompted them to seek this new home in the 
wilderness, and to sustain all its trials. 

During the next hundred 3'ears or more there were, no doubt, 
other books added to tliis collection from time to time, but to 
what extent is not known. 

In 1786, a literary company was formed in the village, with a 
collection '^ consisting of well-chosen books in the various 
branches of literature " which were purchased by subscription. 
In 1795, the Charitable Library Society was organized, and oi 
the books of this Society, there is a copy of the catalogue now 
in the Concord Alcove,printed in 1805, which has two hundred 
and fifty volumes recorded. The members of this library 
united with others in the organization of another, which was 



132 THE CONCORD GUIDE BOOK. 

incorporated in 1821. This was called the Concord Social 
Library. In 1835, it had 1168 vokiines on its shelves. No 
records exist to enable us to give all the statistics we would 
like in reference to the Social Library. It was owned by 
shareholders, and supported by contributions ; the shareholders 
pa) ing a certain sum yearly, and others a larger sum, for the 
privilege of taking out books, the money so contributed going 
towards buying new books and paying expenses. In 1851, the 
Social Library was merged into the Town Library. Two other 
collections, the Parish Library and the Agricultural Library, 
were afterwards added to the Town Librar}^ which continued 
in existence till the autumn of 1873. Its books were then 
transferred to the present Concord Free Public Librarj^ 

The first iinnual report of the Town Library Committee 
ending March 1st, 1853, represents the number of volumes re- 
ceived from the Social Library to be 1,318, to which were added 
during the previous year 199 volumes. 111 by purchase, and 88 
by donation. The number of books taken out during that year 
was 4,288, the largest number in one day being 80, and the 
smallest five. A special appeal was made in this report, to the 
friends of the library, for additional contributions, which liow- 
ever, was not responded to very liberally, for during the next 
year, only 18 books were presented, 131 others were purchased, 
making the whole number 1,663. When the Social Library con- 
veyed its property to the town, it bound the latter by contract 
to raise annually the largest sum allowed by law. The amount 
so raised in 1853 was f 141. 75. The number of books taken 
out the following year is not reported, but the use of the library, 



FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY. 133 

the cummittee say, was " constant and increasing." In 1856 
the committee reported with some exultation, that " 295 vol- 
umes a month have been taken out, on an average throughout 
the year." The report of 1858 says "the interest of the peo- 
ple in the library continues without abatement." 

The amount appropriated by the town, varied but slightly 
from year to year up to 1860, when the law seems to liave been 
changed authorizing towns to appropriate fifty cents each of the 
ratable tolls, instead of twenty-five cents as had previously been 
the law. The whole number of volumes in the library in 1860 
was 2,762. With the larger appropriations from 1860, the 
library increased in a greater ratio from year to year up to the 
time immediately preceding its transfer to the present Free 
Public Library, Oct. 1st, 1873, when the number of the volumes 
was 6,887. 

Previous to the opening of the new library building, an ap- 
peal was made to citizens of the town, to natives who resided 
elsewhere, and to all lovers of old Concord, for donations of 
books, etc., the great object being to bring the n\nnber of books 
up to what is termed a first-class library, viz : 10,000 volumes. 
Such was the interest and enthusiasm excited by this appeal, 
that money, books, pamphlets, coins, medals, busts and pictures 
come in from all directions. There were one hundred and 
nineteen donors. The totals of the gifts were as follows : 
Money $3,570 ; books, 2,489 ; pamphlets, 1,360 ; three oil paint- 
nigs ; forty-eight heliotype impressions ; seven busts of promi- 
nent men ; twenty medals ; five hundred and sixty-nine coins ; 
and seven autograph manuscripts. One lady sent a thousand 



134 THE CONCORD GUIDE BOOK. 

dollars ; Geo. Win. Curtis sent a full set of his works. Jas. T. 
Fields presented six autographs, viz ; original manuscripts of 
- Dorothy Q," by O. W. Holmes; -The Cathedral,'* by J. R. 
Lowell ; '^ Culture " by R. W. Emerson ; - Walking '" by H. D- 
Thoreau ; -The Brazen Serpent," by Nathl Hawthorne, and an 
address by J. L. Motley. Of the books presented, there were 
many rare and valuable ones ; one old Bible printed in 1598 
and other ancient and curious works covered with the wrnikles 
of a^e, containing autographs of the Bulkeleys, the Emersons, 
and the Ripley s of old. 

Under these favorable circumstances, the new library com- 
menced its career of usefulness, and its success has more than 
realized the most sanguine expectations, " making,'' as Mr. Em- 
erson said it would, '^ readers of those who were not readers, 
scholars of those who only read newspapers and novels till 
then," and greatly adding to the many attractions which make 
Concord a desirable phice of residence. 

~^4i the report of the Social Library in 1886, the committee 
congratulated the public on its increased love of reading. It 
says : " Judging by the number of books taken out, your com- 
mittee are ha23py to state that the librar}^ has been useful during 
the past year beyond all precedent." The number of books 
given out that year was 2,438, a less number than is now fre- 
quently given out in a single month. 

On commencing its work Oct. 1st, 1873, the Concord Free 
Public Library had upon its shelves nearly 10,000 volumes, ex- 
cluding duplicates. Since that date up to March 1st, 1880, over 
5 000 volumes have been added to the library, about half of 



FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY. 



135 



which have been donations, and the others by purchase, making 
the present number of volumes in the library a little over 15,- 
000. Besides books, there are over 5,000 pamphlets. 

The annual circulation since the opening of the new library 
has averaged over 23,000. The largest number of volumes 







THE FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY. 



given out in any one year is 26.000 and in any one month is 
2,868, and the largest number in any one day 278. 

A portion of the library room is devoted to reference books, 
and conveniences for consulting them. About 5,000 volumes 
are used here annually in addition to the circulation of the 
lending library. 

This seems a most extraordinary showing for a population of 
less than 3,000. Nearly ten books for every man, woman and 



f 36 THE COXCORD GUIDE BOOK. 

chfld ; and incloding the books used in the lefereDce depart- 
ment, more than ten to each person. It is doubtful if any other 
libtaiy in any town or city in the world -ca^ make so favorable 
a showing. 

The reading room, which is separate from the library room, 
is Hberaliy famished with magazines and other periodicals, b}' 
snbser^i^ions and donations. By the last report March 1st, 
1880, there were on the tables twentyniiije quarterly" and 
mcdiithly majyazines, twenty-foor weekly and two dail^' papers. 
The number of rea^flers in this room varies from twenty to fifty 
per day, wliich i^iouid also be added to the previous statement 
of the reading ca^iacity of Concord jieople. 

From the commencement, the new librarj' has been extremely 
fortunate in securing and retaining tlie ser^iccjs of a very effici- 
ent ]il»arian. Miss Whitney. Much credit is due to her for the 
interior arra~ : jts and for tli^ succ€?ssful management of 

tl*e librarr. iije catalogue of books compiled by Miss Whit- 
ney is a moist admirable one. All the books are alphabetically 
arranged and classifie " ^ r the names of authors, title*, and 
subjects with man\- cii^y^.-^-ieierences. Tlie books are all classi- 
fied, each subject, and each division of a subject being by itself. 

One alcove in the library Ls devoted exclusively to the books, 
pompldets, etc.- relating particularly to Concord. 

Tlie reference department is a very important one. It in- 
cludes marjy valuable b<^^ks in all departments of learning. Its 
advantages are seen every day, not onl%^ in connection with 
gerieral readei^ but with scholars from the higher schools; 
words, technical terms, names, dates, and places in history, 



geography and seienee, and illustrations ami relereuees iu fiction, 
are made clear bv the works in this section. 

Since the opening. of the new library to the present date, a 
j^erioil of six yeai-s and tive months, during which time over 
one huiidred and tittv-two thousand volumes have been fifiven 
out, not a volume has l>een lost or seriously injureil, without 
being replaceil by the bori\)wer. 

The library is now supjx>rted by apprv>priations from the 
town, and by income from a permanent fund donated and be- 
queatheil to the libi-ary by different individuals. 

The library is oj^n every day except Sundays and holidays, 
fi\)m 9 to 12 A. M. and frvmi 2 to t> P. M., and on Saturviav 
evenings fi\mi T to i^ o'clock. 

Visitoi's will W inteivsteil in the tine oil painting of Emer- 
son, by David Scott of Kdinburglu pointed in 184^: an oil 
pointing of Columbus copieil fi\>m the pi>rirait by Titian ; a 
copv of Stuart's \Vashini»tou bv Wm. Marshall; an enenwino^ 
of Emei"son by Schoff. made from House's crayon; a era von of 
Thoi-eau by Kouse ; a bust of Emerson by Ciould; bust of 
Plato ; Miss l^andor's bust of Hawthorne : Richetson*s bust 
of Louis;\ Alcott : Dexier's bust of Ag;v?siz : Ciould's Inist of 
MrTMunrvv ; Fivnch's bust of Simon Brown: a bust of Uortuv 
Mann : a pictuiv of the old jiiil, drawn by a British officer im- 
prisoned there ; the swoixl carrieil by Capt. Isaac Davis at the 
Concorvl Fight : sjxmtix^n caxTied at the Conconl Fight : scis 
SOX'S with which the cartridges were cut : and the anvil on which 
guns were ivpt^iivil pi-evious to the Conconl Fiirht. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



THE MONUMENTS. 



The Monuments. The spot on wliicli the British fought 
has long been marked by a plain, granite monument, which 
bears upon a tablet the following inscription written by Dr. 

Edward Jarvis. 

Here 

on the 19th of April, 1775, 

was made the first forcible resistance to 

British Aggression. 

On the opposite bank stood the American militia, 

Here stood the invading army. 

and on this spot the first of the enemy fell 

in the War of the Revolution, 

which gave Independence to these United States. 

138 



THE MONUMENTS. 



r39 



In gratitude to God, and in the love of Freedom, 

Tliis monument was erected, 

A. D. 1836. 

For the side where the Americans fought, Mr. D. C. French, 

11 poling sculptor of tlie town, has designed a bronze statue of 




THE NORTH BRIDGE AND MONUMENT. 

the Minute Man of the da}', with wonderful truth and vigor of 
acfion ; and it is visited daily b}' people who come from far and 
near, and the bridge, which has been built by the citizens of the 
town to copy the old North Bridge, is constantly being crossed 
by every description of vehicle, conveying passengers to stud}^ 
the details of the monument, as the costume of the expectant 
soldier, the old-fashioned plough upon which he leans, and the 
old flint-lock musket, v>^hich he grasps, are careful copies of the 



T40 THE COXCORD GUIDE BOOK. 

originals from which the young artist made the closest studies. 
Upon the granite base are cut the first lines of one of Emerson's 
hymns. It has been well said, '' Few towns can furnish a poet, 
a sculptor, and an occasion." 

As they pass over the bridge on their return, even the most 
careless visitor pauses for a moment at the grave of the British 
soldiers, who, for a hundred years, liave lain on the spot where 
they were hastily buried on the afternoon of the Fight, by two 
of the Concord men who made a grave for them just where 
they had fallen. No one knew their names, and they slept un« 
wept, save by the murmuring pines, with the very same rougli 
stones from the wall which have been their o\\\x monuments for 
one hundred years until at the last centennial celebration the 
town caused this inscription to be cut on the stone which forms 
a part of the wall, " Grave of British Soldiers." The avenue 
of pine trees was set out by tlie citizens in one morning, as each 
one brought and phxced in the row a little sapling; and 
some of the towns-people are now able to tell which tree was 
planted by their ancestor. The two large trees which stood 
near the river were in existence at the time of the battle. 

The monument on the Common in memory of tlie soldiers 
who fell in the late civil war was erected April 19th, 3 867. It 
bears on a bronze tablet tlie names of all the departed heroes 
"who found in Concord a birthplace, home or grave." The 
motto *' Faithful unto death " is cut on the south side, and the 
dates of the beginning and the end of the war are on the north 
side, Near it is an elm tree under which, according to tradition, 




THE MINUIE MAN, 



THE MONUMENTS. t.-> 

the Rev. William Emerson delivered his famous speech on the 
morning of the light. A hundred years later, when the descen- 
dants of the same men wlio fought that day returned from the 
bloody battle-fields of the South, bearing in honor the same an- 
cient names and assisted at the dedication of the monument to 
their comrades who \\ere '' faithful unto deatli," the present Mr. 
Emerson delivered an address, standing in the shade of the 
same noble old elm, making true the lines iii the ode sung on 
that day : 

'• Beneath the shadow of the ehii where ninety years ago 
Old Concord's rustic heroes met to face a foreign foe, 
We come to consecrate this stone to heroes of to-day, 
Who perished in a holy cause as gallantly as they. 

The patriot preacher's bugle call that April morning knew, 
Still lingers in th^^ silver tones of him who speaks to you, 
As on their former muster fields called by its notes again, 
Those ancient heroes seem to greet brave Prescott and his men. 



X 



And as each soldier saint appears to answer to his name. 
Not one has dimmed the lustre of its old unconquered fame; 
They, too, have left their peaceful fields for scenes of bloody strife 
And death has changed to hallowed ground the fields they tilled in lilt. 

The bronze and stone we proudly rear must surely pass away. 
But deathless lives of dying braves can never know decay; 
For freed from stain of slavery, our re-united land, 
The soldier's proudest monument will ever firmly stand." 



144 



THE COA'CORD GUIDE BOOK. 



An eloquent address was made upon this occasion by tbo 
Hon. E. R. Hoar, who also made a speecli of welcome to the 
soldiers on their return, wliich is remembered witli pride and 
pleasure by all who heard it. 



% ^-^f^'i^i. 




^-^vi .Wld^A^^fitt 






^^tf|^%%.i.^'.:v. 









^ .. 



s^a»5^«&.#- 



THF, MONTTMF.NT ON THE COMMON. 



The 19th of April will ever be a memorable day in Concord, 
not only as the anniversary of the first battle of tlie Revolution, 
but because of its singular bearing upon the history of our whole 
country ; for we learn from Palfrey that in June, 1602, Gos- 
nold's ship, the Concord, left America on her return. Eighty- 



TFIE MOXUMENTS. I45 

six Aears after, on the 19th of April, Sir Edmund Andros was 
imprisoned ; eighty-six years after, on the 19th of April, the 
battle of Concord was fought ; eiglity-six years after, on the 
ISth of April, the first attack was made in Baltimore npon the 
Northern forces on their way to Washington, and on the same 
day the first company left Concord for Washington, composed 
largely of descendants, bearing the names of the same men who 
fought in 1775. > "^ n 

The Town Hall is behind the old elm, where the orators 
before alluded to have spoken ; and next on the right is the 
building formerly used as a Court House, behind which an old 
gate stood, Avithin the memory of some natives of the town, 
which was the entrance to the field held in common by the forty 
original holders. 

The Grand Army of the Republic holds monthly meetings 
in its hall on tlie Milldam. It is composed of veterans, manv 
of whom are the direct descendants of the minute-men of 1775. 
This organization celebrates Decoration Day in an original man- 
ner>and which attracts thousands of visitors yearly. It is 
constantly employed in unostentatious works of charity. 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE STUDIO AND THE AXTIQTJARIAN SOCIETY. 

The studio of Mr. Daniel Chester French stands in the 
orchard of the farm of liis father, Hon. H. F. French, not far from 
the station of the Fitchburg Raih-oad. It was built in the year 
1879 in the modified Queen Anne style, after a plan of his own. 
It consists of two buildings united, the reception and the work- 
ing room ; the outside is finished to a lieight of ten feet in 
olive-green mastic, over wliich round shingles of Venetian red 
extend to the brown roof which rises to a height of nineteen 
Teet from the entrance, which is twelve feet. 

The reception room is ornamented with antique furniture, and 
decorated with tapestry and curtains and pieces of Kensington 

146 




-, r«^4^??ys5*«*<*:?'«*»'^-^^i. 



Mr. French's Studio, where the Minute Man was modelled. 




The Thoreau Corner, in the Antiquarian Rooms. 



J//v'. FKEXCN'S STUDIO. 



H7 



work. Endymioii, Eclio, and other statues, and bas-reliefs of 
owls and other figures, are in this room, and the space b}- tlie 
door is filled with a deep window-seat of a quaint and rich 




MR. FRENCH S STUDIO. 



design, witli a tasteful combination of colors; and the space 
above it is filled by a bas-relief and Japanese and other orna- 
ments. The work room contains The Minute Man in the oriirinal 
plaster, his great group of Law, Prosperity and Power, busts of 
Emerson and Judge French, and many models and works in vari- 
ous stages of completion. Mr. French's earliest important 



148 THE CONCORD GUIDE BOOK. 

work, " The Minute Man," which as before mentioned, 
stands on the scene of the Fight at the old North Bridge, 
was completed in 1874, when lie was twenty-four j^ears old. 
Before its dedication he Avent to Florence^ It'dy, to pursue his 
studies, and while there, among other works of lesser note he 
modelled his " Endjmion." After his return to this country he 
worked awhile in Washington, then in Boston, and in the 
spring of 1879 permanently established himself in his dearly 
loved town and built tlie studio. 

His bust of Emerson, shoAving in the best light the ripe ma- 
turity of the scholar, teacher and poet, is well worth the year's 
work if nothing else had been done. 

Mr. French's colossal designs of " Peace and Vigilance " and 
"Law, Prosperity and Power," have been mucli admired, while 
his portrait busts are very successful. 

His swift advance in his twenty years' devotion to his art, 
from the time Avhen his first clay was given him by the lamented 
May Alcott, to the day wlien his matured Avork, " Death and the 
Sculptor," a memorial of Milmore, commanded praise from the 
severest critics, is a Avarrant that his name and fame Avill be 
inseparably linked AAdth that of historic old Concord. 

On Lexington Road, a few rods east of the public Square, 
is the house of the Concord Antiquarian Society, one of the 
oldest buildings noAv standing in Concord, and Avhich Avas occu- 
pied in 1775 by Reuben BroAvn, a saddler, Avho made cartridge 
boxes and military equipments for the patriots, in his shop 
(still standing) next Avest of his house. The shop Avas set on 



THE STUDIO AND THE ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY. 149 

fire by the British sohliers on April 19, 1775, but fortunately 
was not destroyed. 

In the year 1886 the house was purchased by the Concord 
Antiquarian Society, and the antiquarian collection of Mr. 
Cummings E. Davis, which the Society bought at about the 
same time, was removed from its former place of storage in 
the Court House, and tastefully arranged in its new' quarters. 
The collection had been lialf a century in the making, and is 
very largely of objects of local interest, eacli of tlie old families 
of Concord having contributed something in tlie way of furni- 
ture, china, kitchen utensils, Aveapons, books, or the like. 

As far as possible the liouse lias been furnished as if it were 
still occupied as a family residence, and the ohl kitchen espe- 
cially, with its broad fireplace and high-backed settles, its wide 
*' dresser," covered with shining pewter, its churn and spinning- 
wheel, and all the old-fashioned implements of housekeeping, 
recalls "the o-ood old colonv times when Ave lived under the 
King." There is china galore in every room of the house ; 
spider-legged and claw-foot tables ; stiff, hard, tmcompromising 
old chairs of the Provincial period, and the later and more 
graceful productions of the Chippendale school; half a dozen 
tall clocks, one of them once belongfincr to Dr. Jonathan Pres- 
cott, who, his gravestone tells us, ••' married the amiable and 
only daughter of the Hon. Col. Peter Bulkeley,'' almost tw^o 
hundred years ago: furniture from " the Old Manse," including 
the study chair of the Rev. Daniel Bliss, the great-grandfather 
of Emerson, and the chair of the Rev. Dr. Ripley, for more than 
sixty years minister of Concord : an old piano, one of the first 



I50 THE CONCORD GUIDE BOOK. 

made in America ; antique, high-posted bedsteads ; ancient 
chests-of-drawers, bureaus and minors, and all the thousand 
and one articles of domestic utility or ornament of the days 
long past. Here is a little cream pitcher once belonging to 
Robert Burns, and a bit of tapestry from tlie bed-chamber of 
Mar}^, Queen of Scots, cheek by jowl wiili one of Paul lievere's 
lanterns, and a part of the ancient pewter communion service 
of Concord's cliurcli. Here are weapons that have been borne 
in every Avar in which New England has ever had a part, from 
the early Indian wars to tlie great Rebellion ; and among them 
the musket of a British soldier killed in Concord Fight, and the 
SAVord of a grenadier then taken prisoner, absolutely the two 
first British Aveapons captured in the Revolutionary Avar. Here 
are the great tortoise-shell combs, the high -heeled shoes, the 
fans, and tlie patch-boxes of long-forgotten belles : tlie knee- 
buckles, tlie snuff-boxes, and the iron-rimmed spectacles of seri- 
ous old Puritans long since '' gone to tlieir reward," and the 
arrow-heads, tools, and implements of the Indians AAdiom they 
supplanted. 

One room in tlie house contains the desk of Henry D. Tho- 
reau, his bed, liis chairs, and many other of his personal belong- 
ings. The house is kept closed during the Avinter months, but 
for the greater part of the year it is open in the afternoons, a 
small fee being charged to defray the expense of its care. 



CHAPTER X. 



VARIOUS ORGANIZATIONS. 



The Middlesex Mutual Fire Insurance Co. was organ- 
ized March 29, 1826. Its first President was the Hon. Abiel 
Heywood, distingnished as a physician as well as for honorable 
service in town and state, as in later life he turned his attention 
from professional to public dtities, aud was Associate Judge of 
the Court of Sessions, and as Justice of the Peace and Qnorum 
heard most of the cases in and about tlie town which Avere 
within his jurisdiction ; he was also town clerk for a period of 
thirty-eio-ht years. He Qfradtuited in 1781, was married at the 
age of sixty-two, and died Oct. 29, 1839, aged 80 years. 
His monument of Scotch o-ranite is one of the ornaments of 
Sleepy Hollow, and his memory is cherished by his townsmen. 
His son, George Heywood, holds the position of his father as 

151 



I 52 THE CONCORD GUIDE BOOK. 

President of the Insurance Company, and was town clerk, the 
books having been kept by them for over sixty-five years. He 
has also been for seven 3^ears in the Massachusetts House of 
Representatives and Senate, and was, also, a member of the 
Governor's Council. The Company's Secretary and Treasurer 
was the Hon. Nathan Brooks, whose upright character and wis- 
dom made him the counsellor and guide of thousands, and his 
genial wit and kindness of heart will make him long remem- 
bered and loved. He was a successful lawyer, in which profes- 
sion he was succeeded by his son, the Hon. George M. Brooks, 
who was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representa- 
tives and Senate, and United States House of Representatives, 
and Avas Judge of Probate. The present Secretary is Richard 
Barrett, Esq., and the organization under the existing manage- 
ment is one of the most j^owerful and trustworthy in the 
State. 

The Charitable Society lias been successful in relieving 
distress and almost exterminating pauperism from tlie town, 
since 1814 to the present day, when it is more vigorous and 
efficient tlian ever, beino- manao-ed wholh^ b\' ladies. 

The Fire Society was organized May 5, 1794. Each 
member Avas obliged to keep in order a long ladder, and two 
or more fire buckets in a convenient place, and many of the 
latter are to be seen lianging in the entrys of the old houses. 
The first lire engine was procured in 1794. 

The B. C. & W. Club has its room in Friends' block on 
the Mill-dam. This Club was established in 1858, and was 

'•formed to promote social intercourse, and provide means of 

« 




:^ 



4ii 



W^, 







THE SCHOOL OF PHILOSOPHY 



VARIO US OK GA XIZA TIOXS. 1 55 

pleasant recreation among its members." Any o"entleman is 
eligible for membership. The club is limited to forty members. 
The club-room is open, on week days only, from 9 a.m. to 

11 P.M. 

The Middlesex Agricultural Society held its first show 
in Concord on the 11th of October, 1820, and formerly owned 
a tract of hind in tlie centre of what is now the area of Sleepy 
Hollow. Upon the sale of this land to the town they pur- 
chased the extensive grounds, and built the hall on Main street. 

The School of Philosophy. It was opened in 1879 at 
the Orchard House of Mr. Alcott, where the sessions were 
held in Mr. Alcott's librarj^ and in the room adjoining, which 
had been the studio of May Alcott, before she Avent abroad 
iu 1877, on that pilgrimage of art from which she Avas never to 
return. For several years the sessions were held in a new hall, 
still standing on the hillside west of the Orchard House, under 
the pine-trees that crown the slope. It is a plain little struc- 
ture, called " The Chapel," arranged for the convenience of the 
school, but without luxury or ornament. Over its porch is 
trained Mr. Alcott's largest grape vine, and on either side of 
it shady paths lead by arbors to the hill-top. 

The history of the Concord School of Philosophy, though 
brief, is interesting, and dates back farther than the year of 
its opening. So long ago as 1842, wlien ]Mr. Alcott (then 
living at the Hosmer Cottage, where his daughter May was 
born) visited England, he began to collect books for the library 
of a school of the First Philosophy, to be established in some 



156 THE CONCORD GUIDE BOOK. 

part of New England. For this purpose Mr. James Pierrepont 
Greaves, the English friend and disciple of Pestalozzi, who 
died in March, 1842, bequeathed a collection of curious vol- 
umes, which Mr. Alcott and an English friend, Charles Lane, 
brought over from London and deposited in Concord. For 
many years they have stood on the shelves in the Orchard 
House, and they are now destined to form a part of the 
library of the Concord School. In pursuance of his long- 
cherished plan, Mr. Alcott, in 1878. arranged with his neigh- 
bor, ]VL'. F. B. Sanborn, to make a beginning, and early in 
the year 1879 a Faculty of Philosophy was organized infor- 
mally at Concord, with members residing, some in that town, 
some in the vicinity of Boston, and others at the West. Li 
course of the spring, tlie Dean of this Faculty, Mr. A. Bronson 
Alcott, and the Secretary, Mr. Sanborn, issued a circular call- 
ing the School together for a session of five weeks in July 
and August. 

Mr. Alcott, as Dean of the Faculty, o])ened tlie School on 
the mornincf of Julv 15, 1879, with an address of welcome, 
and closed it on the evening of August 16, with a valedictory 
address. 

The variety of subjects considered during the time that 
the School existed, show that its scope Avas not a narrow 
one ; and the Avide diversity of opinion among those who 
have spoken from its platform may serve as a guarantee that 
no limitation of sect or philosophical shibboleth has been 
enforced. The aim of tlie Faculty lias been to bring together 
a few of those persons who, in America, have pursued, or 




MR. FRENCH S BUST OF EMERSON. 



VA RIO US OR GA A 'IZA TIOA 'S. 1 59 

desire to pursue, the 2)atlis of speculative pliilosopliy; to en- 
courage these students and professors to communicate with 
eacli other what they liave learned and meditated ; and to 
illustrate by a constant reference to poetry and the higher 
literature. 

Tliis School was the last enterprise of a general character 
in which Mr. Emerson engaged, and derived a portion of 
its interest from his connection witli it. This connection 
was not very close, liowever, since its opening was delayed 
until those later years of liis life when lie withdrew from an 
active part even in conversation ; but he was fully cognizant 
of its aims, and in the most friendly relation to its founders, 
the chief of Avliom was Mr. Alcott. The last public meet- 
ing in Hillside Chapel was tlie Memorial to ]\Ir. Alcott in 
Mav, 1888, on wliicli occasion the buildincr was crowded 
Avith his friends, who united in paying loving testimony to 
his talents. 

The Concord Artillery was incorporated on Feb. 28, 1804. 
It has a fine new armory on Walden street. The inscription 
on their cannon is as follows : 

" The Legislature of Massachusetts consecrate the names of Alaj. John 
Buttrick and Capt. Isaac Davis whose valor and example excited their 
fellow citizens to a successful resistance of a superior number of British 
troops at Concord Bridge the 19th of April 1775 which was the begin- 
ning of the contest in arms that ended in American Independence.'' 

This company formed a portion of the regiment under the 
command of the gallant Col. Prescott which went from the 
town to the seat of the Rebellion on the 19th of April, 1861, 



i6o THE CONCORD GUIDE BOOK. 

and many of its members enlisted for the war and followed 
him from Bull Run and the bloody field of Fredricksburg 
to the victory of Gettysburg, and through the many engage- 
ments between tlie Wilderness and Petersburg, where on the 
18th of June he received a mortal wound and died the next 
day. These verses were copied in his funeral oration : 

" Deck out your hills old Concord in all your summer pride. 
To welcome back your soldier who for Liberty has died. 
Trail in the dust your weeping elms along the silent street. 
And with pride and sorrow mingled, prepare your dead to meet. 
For he loved the gentle river, with its calm and peaceful shore, 
He loved the quiet village life, but he loved his country more; 
For he heard her earliest call for help, and answering to the cry. 
Showed how a soldier ought to light, and a Christian ought to die." 

The Institution of Masonry has always held a respectable 
footing in Concord, and, in its history, numbers among its mem- 
bers many of the most prominent citizens of tlie town. The 
Corinthian Lodc^e was orofanized in 1797, under a charter from 
the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts of the 16tli of June, signed 
by the M. W. Grand Master Paul Revere of Revolutionary 
memory, and by Isaiah Tliomas of equal historic eminence. 
Grand Secretary. In the organization of the lodge. Rev. Dr. 
Morse of Charlestown delivered the address, and at the dedi- 
cation of the first hall, Nov. 13, 1820, a Masonic address was 
pronounced by R. AY. Benjamin Gleason, Grand Lecturer of 
Massachusetts. W. Isaac Hurd was first Master, and Rev. 
Dr. Ripley was one of the early initiates in 1798. Among the 
Masters of the lodge may be mentioned the names of Francis 



VARIOUS ORGAXJZATIONS. i6i 

Jarvis, Benjamin Ball, John Brown, John Keyes, William 
Whiting, Ephraim H. Bellows, Louis A. Surette, George P. 
How, and* many others. Among its prominent members w^ere 
Abel Barrett, Abraham Skinner, Thomas O. Selfridge, Groves- 
nor Tarbell of Lincoln, David Barnard, Gershoin Fay, Nathan 
Heald, Rufus Hosmer, Samuel Ripley, Calvin 0. Damon, 
Thomas Todd, Hartwell Bigelow, Samuel P. P. Fay (afterwards 
Grand Master), and many others, includuig citizens of Acton, 
Lincoln, Carlisle, Stow, Bedford, Chelmsford, Dracut, Weston, 
Sudbury, and other towns. For manv vears tlie meetino-s were 
held in the hall of the building used for a schoolhouse, and 
afterwards as an engine house, opposite the Court House. \\\ 
1871, a new hall was erected on the main street in the village, 
near the public Square, which was dedicated on the 26th of 
February, 1872, when a Masonic address was delivered by R. 
W. William Wilder Wheildon. The occasion was honored by 
the presence of the officers of tlie Grand Lodge of Massachu- 
setts, M. W. John J. Heard, Grand ^Master. The lodge is 
now in a prosperous condition. 

Walden Royal Arch Chapter, which was organized in 1874, 
holds its monthly convocations in the new Masonic hall. 

The Concord Bank was incorporated March 3, 1832. Daniel 
Shattuck was the hrst President, and John M. Cheney Cashier. 
Mr. Shattuck continued in office until October, 1860, when he 
was succeeded bv Georg-e Hevwood. The bank re-oreanized 
under the National Banking Act, Feb. 23, 1865, as the Concord 
National Bank of Concord, retaining Mr. Heywood and Mr. 
Chenev. Mr. Chenev died, Feb. 13. 1869, and was succeeded 



i62 l^HE COA'COKD GUIDE BOOK. 

by Henry J. Walcott and B. L. Fabens. Mr. E. C. Damon is 
the present President of the Concord National Bank, and Mr. 
Samuel Hoar is President of the ^Middlesex Institution for 
Savings, the Treasurer of which is Mr. Henry J. Hosmer. For 
the accommodation of the National and Savino-s Bank, a fine 
brick building was finished in 1895. 

Water Supply. Sandy Pond, from whence the water is 
obtained which supplies Concord so abundantly, lies in the 
neighboring town of Lincoln, two and a half miles from the 
centre of Concord village. It is a beautiful sheet of water, 
covering an area of one hundred and fifty acres at its mean 
height, and varies only about two feet from its liighest to its 
lowest elevation. The pond is capable of furnisliing half a 
million gallons daily — enough for ten thousand inhabitants, 
allowing fifty gallons each per day. The character of the 
water is remarkable for its extreme pnrity, containing as it 
does an unusually small quantity of mineral and organic mat- 
ter in solution, there being only one and three-fourths grains 
of solid matter in a gallon of the water. Prof. Goessmann says, 
so far as he is able to determine, its analysis places the water 
of Sandy Pond, as regards purity, first among all waters used 
in this or any other country. Tlie average impurities in the 
waters from upwards of forty different sources in the United 
States and Europe is 5.07 grains per U. S. gallon, the range 
being from 1.77 for Concord to 16.38 for London. The mean 
elevation of Sandy Pond above Main street is fully one hun- 
dred feet, and when using liose, a stream can be thrown from 
a hydrant to the top of any building in town. Of all the bless- 



VARIOUS ORGAXIZA T/OiVS. 163 

iiigs which Concord eiijojs, this is certainly one of the purest 
and best. 

The Concord Lyceum was formed Januaiy 7, 1829, and 
the Debating Society which had been in existence six years 
was united to it. Its organization consisted at tirst, of Presi- 
dent, two Vice Presidents (all clergymen), two Secretaries, a 
Treasurer, and three Curators, but for many years it has been 
chieflv manao'ed bv two Curators. 

Every lecturer of note in New England and New York 
States has been heard before this organization, the most cele- 
brated orators having made frequent addresses here, including 
Beeclier, Curtis, Gough, Wliipple, Phillips, etc. On the occa- 
sion of its centennial anniversary. Judge Hoar delivered a most 
eloquent tribute to Emerson and others wlio had done much 
to sustain and carry it on. In Februar}- of the year 1879, Mr. 
Emerson delivered his one hundredth lecture before the 
Lyceum. The hall was crowded with his townspeople, and 
strangers who Avere attracted from Boston and other places, to 
listen to him; all were delighted to hear him speak with great 
power, the lecture being, by every one, considered as one of 
his best. 

The Emerson School stands on the lot in the rear of the 
present high schoolhouse, ending on Hubbard street. 

The extreme length of the building is 106 feet, the depth 
of the centre section 58 feet, and the depth of the two wings 
44 feet. The centre section projects before the wings seven 
feet on the east and west facades. The structure is a three- 
story one, and the stone ashler underpinning is six feet high. 



1 64 THE COXCORD GUIDE BOOK. 

The brickwork of the first story is 10 feet high, and tlie wooden 
second story 12 feet in height. The central roof, which is at 
light angles to the wings is surmounted by a handsome spire, 
which contains a belfry and ventilators. The entrance consists 
of a 14-foot archway and recess with granite steps. This arch 
has, for trimming, terra cotta casts and moulded bricks. A 
roomy hall runs entirel}^ through the centre of the building 
crosswise. On each side, in both the first and second stories, 
are convenient wardrobe rooms. The length of this hall is 
57 feet, and the width 10 fe-et. There are eight schoolrooms, 
four on each floor. In size 20 feet and 6 inches by 40 feet 
and 6 inches, having a seating capacity of b^ pupils each. 

It was first occupied in December, 1880, and cost, besides 
the appropriation of $13,850, $500 contributed by Reuben N. 
Rice and $500 by Edwin S. Barrett for the purpose of having 
the first story of the structure built of brick instead of wood, 
as was originally intended. The first-named donor also paid 
for the weather vane. This account is condensed from that of 
G. E. Harrington, Esq. 

The building committee of the Emerson school house were 
Samuel Hoar, John B. Tileston, and Henry J. Hosmer. 

Among the peculiar institutions of Concord are the Clubs. 

The Social Circle, the most venerable of these, was 
founded about 1782, and probably grew out of the famous 
Committee of Safety. It includes twenty-five of our most in- 
fluential men, wlio sup together twenty-five times annually on 
successive Tuesday evenings. After the deatli of any member 
his memoir is read to the others and then preserved in manu- 



VARIOUS ORGANIZATIONS. 165 

script. There has been onl}' one instance of failure to do this, 
and the member in question left town some time before his 
death. 

The Dramatic Club, which is the oldest to which both 
ladies and gentlemen belong, was founded in 1875, has given 
several excellent comedies and an operetta in the Town Hall, 
and now occasionally reads plays at private houses to keep 
itself in training for future triumphs. 

The Saturday Club. Among the most interesting of our 
literary and social meetings are tliose held by the Saturday 
Club, which was founded by Mme. Nieriker, then Miss May 
Alcott, on January 22, 1876, and has continued ever since to 
assemble on alternate Saturdays, usually in tlie evening, at the 
houses of the ladies and gentlemen composing it. There is a 
large membership, and many guests have been invited to the 
summer picnics, as well as to the so-called open clubs, before 
which such visitors as Dr. Hedge, Dr. Peabody, Professor C. C. 
Everett, Professor Davidson. Mr. C. D. B. Mills, and Rev. Wm. 
J. Potter have read tlieir essays. Memorial meetings were 
held in January and February 1860, in honor of two of its 
members recently deceased, one of these being its founder. 

Concord's Home for the Aged was organized December 
30, 1886, and in March, 1887, purchased a large house on 
Walden street, which it was enabled to do by the gift of 
#20,000 from Miss Martha Hunt, in tribute to the memory of 
her father. Under the efficient management of the principal 
ladies of the town, it has done an excellent work in providing 
a comfortable home for permanent residents of Concord. 



CHAPTER XL 



LAKK AVALDEN. 



Lake Walden, or Walden Pond as it has always been 
called in the of-ood old days before the whistle of the railroad 
engine gave place to the scream of the loon and honk of the 
wild goose, is a pellucid basin of the purest water uestling 
among low hills. Its rare and lovely beauty attracted alike 
the poet, philosopher, and naturalist. Mv. R. AV. Emerson loved 
to ramble around it and was induced to purchase a large tract 
which bordered upon it. Here he made his rustic study, and 
wandering througli its vistas mused upon tlie deep thoughts of 
philosophy, and wove his subtle fancies Avhich in essay and 
poem have charmed students in two continents. In his })oem 
entitled ''My Garden," Mr. Emerson has immortalized Walden 
Pond, which is also reflected in many of his other Avorks. Here 

i66 



LAKE IVALDKiY. 169 

he used to bring his cluldreii 011 Sunday afternoons, and thus 
instilled into tlieir young minds the love for nature which dis- 
tinguished them in later life. The picturesque portion about 
Thoreau's Cove is still owned b\- his faniilv, and liis vouno-est 
daughter purchased Fairyland several 3'ears ago in order to 
save its noble trees from the woodman's axe. This romantic 
spot may be called a suburb of Walden, as it is only separated 
by the width of a countiy road from Walden woods. Fairy- 
land has a pretty pond embowered in trees, and a delicious 
spring, cool and clear enougli to have been patronized bv 
the fairies. It has always been a favorite hattnt for the 
children of the villao-e, and many of the school children 
liave often used it as a play and picnic ground. Some 
thirty years ago, the pupils of a well-known school used 
to hold fairy masques and costume parties there, and if a 
wayfarer had strayed in. he would have been surprised to 
lind himself in the centre of a fairy ring or gypsy carnival. 
Now quiet citizens use it as a pleasant place for a summer 
stroll ; and berrying parties in the summer, and nutting 
excursions in the autunni, often visit it, and return with 
abundant harvests. Climbing up its steep path by the 
spring, the visitor soon enters Walden woods, and thread- 
ing his way tlirough the straight lines of pine-trees which 
compose Thoreau's orchard, he can cross the patch which 
was cultivated \\\\\\ six miles of beans by tlie Walden 
hermit. Turning to the left, he revisits tlie shore of the 
pond at the romantic point owned by .Mr. Hoar, at the 
bar which crosses the mouth of Thoreati's Cove, alltided 
to in a former chapter. 



I70 THE COXCORD GUIDE BOOK. 

Skirting the pond, still going toward the south, a Avalk 
of a quarter of a mile brings him to the swimming-place 
used b}^ the Concord farmers- for two hundred years. At 
the top of the hiU l)ehin(l this beach was the hut occupied 
by Brister, not far from wliich are the cellars Avhich mark 
the homes of the other settlers who were also mentioned 
in the last chapter of Thoreatt's ''Walden." 

From this beach, the picnic grounds belonging to the 
Fitchburg Railroad can be distinctly seen, with their swings 
bathing-hotises, and pavilions for dancing, as well as the 
larger ones intended for the use of the many pnblic speakers 
who address large gatherings of people every summer on 
the topics of the day. 

Thousands of people are attracted to Walden Pond by 
the athletic games and other contests of skill, and many 
city churches bring their children of all ages to enjoy a 
quiet day among its sylvan solitudes. Long before the rail- 
road came to break its stillness, tlie woods around Walden 
were used as a rallying point for the very earliest anti- 
slaverv asfitators. The Fitchburg Railroad reached it in 
1844, and many Irish laborers were employed in digging 
throucrh the enormous sand-hills which guarded the pond, 
as its situation is far higher than the level of Concord 
villacre. 

In the words of Thoreau, nature soon adopts the railroad ; 
and in his famous chapter on Sounds, he shows how nnich 
poetry an unromantic railroad can ins])ire. Many of the 
old inliabitants regretted the invasion by picnickers of these 



LAKE WALDEiY. 171 

quiet nooks where the philosophers and poets walked un- 
molested, and a rustic bard lias sung: 

" O Walden Pond I thy classic shore 
Where Thoreau wrote and dreamed of yore ; 
Where once the wild goose wandered free. 
The tame one's haunt has come to he : 
A dance-house and attendant pumjis 
Has stirrecl u]) all those ancient stumps ; 
And loud reformers' noisy shout 
The woodchucks from their holes bore out. 
But this is selfish, when we think 
How man\- thirsty mortals drink 
From l)us\- cities" crowded slum. 
How many weary wanderers come 
To bathe in Walden I and delight 
In God's pure air and welcome light. 
We bid you welcome to these scenes. 
Thrice welcome to yoiu" feast of greens ! "' 

In these lines reference is probably made to the poor chil- 
dren's free excursions which formerly made use of these 
grounds, coming in lai'ge numbers from Boston, under the 
patronage of many philanthropic ladies and gentlemen: but 
for soitie years they have occupied groyes nearer to the 
city. 

In his picture of Walden the artist has sliown some of 
the buildings intended for the amusement of gtiests, and he 
has giyen an idea in the upper corner of the form of 
Thoreau's hut, snggested by a sketch of the late Miss I\Iay 
Alcott. Tourists from the schools and colleges often come 



iji THE CONCORD GUIDE BOOK. 

in barges by tlie country road to Thoreau's Cove, near to 
which the second road after ascending the hill brings them. 

Leaving their carriages under the tall pines beside this little 
road, they can follow well-worn paths down to the Avaterside, 
past the cairn of stones which stands near the former site 
of Thoreau's hut, a description of A>liich as it existed until 
1847, and his manner of life therein, will be found in the article 
upon Tlioreau. 

Its close connection with Emerson, Thoreau, and the many 
noted men whom they drew to its picturesque shore, renders 
Walden Pond one of the most noted sheets of water in 
America. 




Visitor's Memorial. The site of Thoreau's Hut at Lake Wald 



en. 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE RIVER AND SURROUNDINGS. 

Concord River beorins at Eo-o- Rock, where it is formed bv 
the junction of the Sudbury and Assabet : the former rising in 
Hopkinton and Westborough, and the latter in Grafton. It 
varies in depth from two to fifteen feet, and from one hundred 
to three hundred feet in width. In olden time its waters 
abounded in shad and salmon, which were so plentiful that it is 
stated in tlie records of the colony that " no apprentice can be 
compelled to eat salmon more than five days in the week; '' but 
now only miserable little percli. pout, and breams reward the 
constant anglers who frequent the banks. Skilful fishermen 
can secure pickerel of from half a pound to four pounds in 
weight, and the black bass, with which the bay was stocked, 
occasionally surprise them. 

^7Z 



174 THE COXCORD GUIDE BOOK. 

As the rivers become each year the highways of tourists who 
come from the Charles River on their way to the Merrimac at 
Lowell, a full account of the many objects of interest along tlie 
banks, as well as a description of tlie streams, will be of use to 
them, as well as to the visitors \vl>o come from many parts of 
the United States and Europe to enjoy a quiet day in contem- 
plating its literary and liistoric interests. We will begin with 
tlie Sudburv River and Mine Hill, wliicli is one of its C-oncord 
outposts, and come down stream until we pass out of the 
boundaries of Concord, which is all that the scope of this book 
allows. Mine Hill, so-called on account of the remains of a 
mine whicli was begun many years ago in search of coppei* ore, 
commands a beautiful view of the hills of Sudbury and Fra- 
mingham as far as Nobscot, the scene of tlie great andmscade in 
which crafty King Philip desti-oyed s(^ many of his enemies. 
A pleasant cottage stands under the lofty pines which crown 
the summit of Mine Hill, which j\Ir. (jeorge Wright lets every 
sunnner to city people who enjoy perfect retirement : the ])est 
of summer produce is furnished bv the great farm of Mr. 
Wright, which extends for miles down river, and end:>races all 
its left bank from I.ee's Bridge to Conantum. Fruitful vine- 
yards of the Concord and other grapes, and cultivated fields, 
till the valley between the rocky eminences above mentioned. 

Gliding down the narrow river for a mile, it suddenlv 
broadens into Fairhaven Bay, which covers an area of over 
seventy acres. 

The depth of this clear bay and its freedom from rocks 
renders it the best place for the races and regattas of the 




bj) 



cc 



-o 
o 



o 



hs\ 



o 



THE RIVER AXD SURROUNDINGS. 177 

Concord Canoe Clulj, which tire hehl once or twice a year, 
for the amusement of crowds of pet)ple who come to enjoy 
the spectacle, and the picnic whieli precedes it. 

At the right on entering the bay is Monnt Misery, so- 
called from a legend of some lost cattle who had strayed 
away when yoked together, and were prisoned 1»\' a tree. 
Skirting the right shore of Fairhaveii Bay is liaker Farm, 
immortalized In' Kmerson's poem of that name, and by the 
pens of many minor poets. Its character has Ijeen changed 
by the tine mansion owned by Charles Francis Adams, Esq., 
which, with its boathouse and other accessories, makes a 
strong contrast to the mined farndiouse which occupied the 
place in former years. (\imp Comfort, the summer home of 
Watertown families, stands upon a small l)luff, and Mr. 
Staples's pleasant cottage completes the right shore of the 
bay. Conantum cliffs, and the pleasant picnic ground in 
front, bound ihe opposite side of Fairhaven Bav. Hiis was 
named Iw Thoreau, from an old cellar which ^\'as once a 
part of the Conant farmhouse. At the foot of the cliffs, 
or rocky ledges, are rude fireplaces for out-of-door cooking, 
and a pump has been placed near an old spring which is 
often dry. These grounds are in charge of the Concord 
Canoe Club, who have built a long wharf at the landing, 
and made various other improvements, with the consent of 
Mr. Wright, who gives the control of the land to the club. 

Leaving the bay and drifting down the river, Martha's Point 
is on the left bardc one-half mile below. This fine promontory 
was named for a lady of literary taste and culture, w ho spent 



178 THE CONCORD GUIDE BOOK. 

many happy days there ; and for years it was the meeting-place 
of the picnickers of Concord, until it was leased by some gentle- 
men who have built a large house upon its crest ; but they have 
done a good deed in boxing the excellent s])ring which is at 
the foot of a maple near the point, thus preserving and keep- 
ing clean the best drinking-water, upon which so many thirsty 
travellers depend. The next point above is also used by the 
pleasure seekers, wl 10 have had to abandon their former liaunt, 
a.s a small spring furnishes drink wlien the season permits, and 
pretty rocks furnish rustic sea,ts and tables under the shade of 
the oaks. A small stone wharf lias been built here, and wind- 
ing paths lead to fine views and rural nooks. Opposite is 
Fairhaven Hill, the haunt of Thoreau, which furnished him in 
summer berries for his simple meals, and inspiration for his 
vivid descriptions of all seasons of the year. He used to sit 
often on the cliffs, which form the south-eastern side of Fair- 
haven hill, and command a view of the bay and its surround- 
ings, and also of the Lincoln Hills. 

For more than a liundred years these cliffs have been a 
favorite resort for the nature-lover, and the climax of many 
a Sunday walk or autumnal holiday trip, as no better view can 
be had of the waving tree-tops and gentle river. 

Winding paths lead in circuitous ways to the river bank, 
laid out by the cows according to their wandering fancy, 
through tangled berry bushes and great clumps of juniper. 
Opposite Fairhaven Hill, a few rods farther down stream, may 
be seen the tall pines under which the gifted writer Frank 
Bowles passed the night in his canoe to watch the owls of which 



THE RIVER AXD SURROUXDEXGS. 



179 



he was so fond, and of which lie wrote so charmiiigl}' in his 
''Land of the Lingering Snow; " and in tribute to the genius so 

early called from the woods 

J he so loved to the glories 

o^pa?/^ . - v^ of the celestial, 

it is hoped 

that this fair 

grove 




THE HEMLOCKS 
ASSA.BET. 



^\' i 1 1 a i - 
ways l)e 
sacred to 
h i s name, 
^ ' a n d b e 

-* called as now The 
Frank Bowles 
1-*INES. The rivernext 
passes under Heath's 
ij^^Ejsc .-^s^ Bridge, which is in plain 
r^'~^'^^' view, over which the road 
runs to White Pond, another clear 
o\ THE lake which has of late been, like 



iSo THE COXCORD GUIDE BOOK. 

Walclen, discovered l)v the railroad which skirts its bank, and 
one house has been built upon its lovely shore. But the side' ^ 
toward the Nine-acre Corner is still so retired as to form a 
pleasant bathing- and picnic place for those who have been 
driven from Walden. Below Heath's Bridge is the swamp 
so full of botanical curiosities, and the great lily-tields which 
adorn the river for miles with their spotless purity. ^liss Treat 
tells, a pretty story of the lilies, that each comes to the surface 
three times to blossom, and when old age would mar their spot- 
less purity, the long stem winds up like a spiral spring and 
drags them down to die unseen. The studio of D. C. French, 
built on the farm of his father, formerly Assistant Secretary of 
the Treasury, is a mile from the river at the bend along which 
the farm extends for many rods on the right bank. Opposite 
this bend is a large kitchen-miden, originally a shell-heap thrown 
up by the Indians to mark the place of one of their solemn 
feasts ; excavations have been made in this bank by delegates 
from various scientific societies, without finding many valuable 
relics. This kitchen-miden stood on the ancient Wood farm ; 
the original house of the former proprietor stands near. The 
Fitchburg Railroad crosses the river at this j^oint ; and there is 
a line spring forty rods above, on the bank of the former Mid- 
dlesex Agricultural Society's grounds. The old South Bridge 
is a few rods below that of the railroad, and resembles in form 
the identical bridge guarded by the British on the morning of 
the fieht. The left bank of the river, between the South and 
Stone Brido-es, is full of interest, as two of the old houses 
which still stand Avere searched bv the British soldiers. Adj. 



THE RIVER AXD SURROUNDINGS. 



iSi 



Joseph Hosmer lived in the house just across the railroad 
track. He was adjutant ; and to his skill and valor much 
of the success of Concord's fight is due. His wife, according to 
Shattuck's history, said to the lieutenant, who was trying to 
force open a locked door. '' You will not disturb tlie sick I " and 
thus saved from confiscation a bed stuffed with cannon-ljalls. 
The house now occui>ied by ^Ir. James Garland of the Home 
School was also searched fur the town clerk, Mr. Wood, who 




MR. F. i;. sanrorn's house. 

tlien lived there. 0\\ tlie left bank of the river are many 
houses built by Mr. William Hurd. \\ ho. witli his brother, has 
done so much to improve the town ; and near the Stone Bridge 
is Trinity Chapel, the new Episcopal Church, wliich is rapidly 
gaining in interest and membership. The home of Mr. F. B. 
Sanborn stands just below the bridge* On the left and opposite 
is the ancient farm of Simon Willard, Esq., one of the fathers 
of the town. This place is marked by a tablet, and its boun- 
daries extend for a mile or more along the two rivers : it is 



162 



THE CONCORD GUIDE BOOK. 



now owned by Mr. Wm. Wheeler, who has sold many fine build- 
ing-lots upon it, and laid out Willard Park at the summit near 
the reservoir, and has built many costly walls and roads, allu- 
sion to which will be found in another place. The beautiful 
promontory called Egg Rock, because it was laid there, is the 
most picturesque place in town ; the scene of daily picnics and 
camping-parties of all sizes and ages, who delight to pass the 
summer days upon its rocky seats, fanned by the cool breezes 
which often visit it on sultry days. Opposite Mr. Wheeler's 
house, on the right bank of the river, is tlie studio of Walton 
Ricketson, Esq., at which charming retreat all lovers of litera- 
ture and art are made welcome to his genial hearth, on which 
a bright fire always glows in cool weather ; his cordial niiinner 
never grows cool, but he is always ready to play a tune upon 
Thoreau's flute, or his own violin or piano ; his medallions and 
btists of Thoreau and the Alcotts are true to life, on account of 
his close intimacy with them, and his intaglios of Twilight and 
Dawn meet w^ith great favor and ready sales. He also has 
Thoreau's s[)vglass, and many pictures and papers of tlie poet- 
naturalist, pictures of Miss Alcott at all ages, and many letters 
and poems addressed to him by the author of ^'Little Women " 
and her family. Like Thoreau, jNIr. Ricketson is a lover of 
the river, which is close behind his house, and an authority upon 
its botany and natural history. Tlie river forms the rear 
approach to Main street, and is the boundary of its fine estates. 
Nashawtuck Bridge, which crosses it, was built by the late 
C. H. Hurd as a gift to the town. A little below is a half-acre 
of land which is said to have pi'oduced more legislative and legal 



THE RIVER AND SURROUNDINGS. 183 

talent than any other tract of the same size in America. Here 
the sagacious Grant found a cabinet minister, while the martyred 
Lincoln went across the street for liis. At the next bend, where 
the Boston and ]\Iaine Railroad crosses the river on its way to 
the Reformator}', stands the canoe-house of Mr. J. ^I. Keves, 
which is full of graceful canoes, in which many citizens of 
Concord and the neighboring towns enjoy delightful excursions 
on the beautiful rivers. At the next bend was the calf pasture 
of the Rev. Peter Bulkley, according to an ancient deed, and 
at its farther end the river is crossed by the Red Bridge, so 
called because it lias been painted brown for years. 

Near the bridge, on Lowell street, was the ancient farm of 
Abram AVinthrop, supposed to have been a descendant of the 
governoj-, who divided the land witli Dtidley, at a place seven 
miles down tlie river, marked by a pair of great bowlders wliich 
still Ijear the names of the '' two bi'o.theis," from this fact. 
Under the road is a very old cave roofed over with great stone 
slabs, whicli was occupied by the pigs of some of the oldest 
inhabitants' and several Concord men liave since been noted for 
their pens. The next estate on the left baidv is River Cottage, 
once owned by Lieut.-(lov. Simon Brown, tlie well-known agri- 
cultural author and editor, on whicli, at the top of the hill, is a 
tablet which marks tlie training-field of the minute-men, where 
they were formed to march down to the battle-field on the 19th 
of April, 1775. Their route of march led across Battlelawn, 
the home of Edwin S. Barrett, on which stands a tablet in com- 
memoration of his ancestor's part in the battle. 

Tlie house which Major John Buttrick left to take command 



1 84 THE CONCORD GUIDE BOOK. 

of the fight still stands near, at the corner of Liberty street ; 
and a short distance in front is the home of his descendants, 
who keep up their ancient farm witli as tender interest as they 
do the memory of their heroic ancestor. The point graced by 
the famous statue of the Minute Man was a part of this farm 
until 1875. On the right bank of the river below the Red 
Bridge is the fine Nashawtuck canoe-house, the property of 
Mr. Ed. Hill, which is a centre of refined hospitalit3\ At the 
next bend is the antique canoe-house owned by Mr. George B. 
Bartlett, where many guests from many States pause on their 
voyages, or are ferried across from the Minute Man, to take a 
hasty cup of coffee before embarking from the little wharf, to 
explore the rivers in the SquaAv Sachem canoe, or the dainty 
Red Wing, immortalized in song and story b}^ the many artists 
who have enjoyed lazy hours among its comfortable cushions. 
Noted people from England and America have left their auto- 
graphs or photographs on the canoe-house walls, which legend 
says came from the barn owned by the man at whom the shot 
was fired which made the bullet-hole which attracts so much 
notice. The same authority says that the minute-men were 
posted behind a stone wall. Where could this wall have gone 
to, if not into the massive foundations of the old canoe-house? 
As much history rests on a less firm foundation. At any rate, it 
is on historic ground, bought by the patriot-preacher Emerson,^ 
in 1765. Close l)v is the ereat rock from which Daniel Webster 
once delivered an address, and of Avhich Hawthorne speaks in 
the " Mosses from an Old Manse," as the place from which he 
embarked in Thoreau's boat. In contrast to the rude old skiff 



THE RH^ER AKD SURROUXDEXGS. 185 

whieli Tlioreau used are the beautiful cauoes which Walton 
Ricketsou designs, that Mr. George Warren manufactures of 
the best of material, and tliat are unequalled in strength and 
symmetry by any craft. Mr. Warren is a practical canoist, ^^ ho 
yearly explores the rivers of Maine and Massachusetts, and 
even ventures upon the ocean, so fully is he impressed with the 
seaworthiness of his canoes. 

THE ASS ABET. 

Before continuing the voyage down river, we will 
follow the custom of summer-day toui'ists by taking a trip 
up the Assabet River, the mouth of which is at Egg Rock, 
where it joins with the Sudbury around a grassy island to 
form the Musketaquid, or grass-grown river, noYv^ the classic 
Concord, over whose gentle memory no shrouding grass can 
ever grow, for resting beside its still waters many a genius 
has dreamed ofreat dreams which will echo forever alono- the 
soundino- shores of time. 

Ascending the Assabet, on the left bank are the old hem- 
locks of which Hawtliorne speaks in the " Mosses from an 
Old Manse,'' and of which every poet, ])hilosopher, and stor}'- 
teller of Concord has delighted to sing tlie praise. Before 
the Lowell Railroad desti-oyed many of these trees, one could 
row in eio-ht minutes from the bridcre near the villagfe into 
the grand solitude of the forest ; and since tender hands have 
planted willows to mourn over the fallen giants and hide the 
railroad bank, it is beautiful even in desolation. Half a mile 
farther, and the river seems again shut in like a lake, and the 



1 86 THE CONCORD GUIDE BOOK. 

vines tangled among the trees and graceful black willows seem 
as wild as wlien the Indians knew them. This romantic spot 
is the supposed scene of the following lines, copied from 
'* Poems of Places." 

FLOATING HEARTS. 

One of Indian summer's most perfect days 

Is dreamily dying in golden haze, 

Fair Assabet bluslies in rosy bliss. 

Reflecting the sun's warm good-night kiss. 

Through a fleet of leaf-barques, gold and brown, 

From the radiant maples shaken down. 

By the ancient hemlocks, grim and gray. 

Our boat drifts slowly on its way ; 

Down past Egg Rock and the meadows wide, 

'Neath the old red bridge we slowly glide. 

Till we see the Minute Man. strong and grand. 

And the moss-grown Manse in the orchard land. 

" The boat is as full as a l)oat should be. 

Just nobody in it but you and me." 

As brown as the leaves are her beautiful eyes. 

And as graceful her hand on the water lies. 

As she catches the leaves which languid float 

On the lazy current along the boat. 

Now she asks its name as she tears one apart — 

'• Fair lady, that is a • floating heart.'" 

Sad wrecks of vears have drifted down 
In the dreamless ocean to sink and drown. 
Since the Ijeautiful eyes saw that lovely night. 
And haloed the river with visions bright : 
But the floating heart that was caught that day 
Has never been able to get awav. 



THE KIVEK AND SURROUNDINGS. 187 

111 order to show that tlie river-worship is not confined to 
natives of the town, this graphic sketch by Mrs. Dehmo 
Goddard is copied here : 

''Concord itself is like no other town; it seems utterly 
undisturbed by tlie tnnnoil and agitation of life, utterly free 
from worldly ambition or jietty livalries of any sort. The 
hospitality of its })eople is boundless, and so is their refined 
kindness ; and the beautiful village seems tlie one spot where 
there is abiding 'peace on earth and good will to men/ 
Besides its historic associations, its montiments, its library, 
and, best of all, its peo})le. Concord luis its slow, lovely river, 
of which Thoreau wrote : * Concord River is remarkable for 
the gentleness of its current. I have read that the descent 
of an eight of an inch in a mile is sufficient to produce a flow. 
Our river has, probably, very near the smallest allowance. The 
stor}^ is current, at any rate, though I believe that strict history 
will not bear it out, that the only bridge ever carried away 
on the main branch, within the limits of the town, was driven 
up-stream by the wind. The sluggish artery of the Concord 
meadows steals tints tmobserved through the town. Avithout 
a murmur or a pulse-beat, its general course from southwest 
to northeast, and its leno-th about fiftv miles ; a liuoe volume 
of water, ceaselessly rolling through the plains and valleys 
of the substantial earth, with the moccasined tread of an 
Indian warrior, making haste from the high places of the 
earth to its ancient reservoir.' 

'' The main sti-eet of the town is parallel with the river, and 
the comfortable row of old houses which face the street have 



1 88 THE CONCORD GUIDE BOOK. 

gardens at the back sloping clown to the water. The numerous 
hmdings, each with its little fleet of boats, dories, canoes, 
Avherries, or other small outriggers, make the river very pictur- 
esque, and add greatly to the charm of boating in it. Tlie 
morning we were tliere we idled for liours on tlie stream, 
guided by one who knows every incli of its windings; we 
rowed across the sunnv reaches, floated 'mid lucid shallows, 
just eluding water-lily leaves,' puslied under the trees, and 
drank of the spring of living water whicli gushes out tliere 
in some sylvan hiding-place, and let the boat rest in the very 
spot that Haw^thorne describes in his ' Mosses from an Old 
Manse,' where 'there is a lofty bank, on tlie slope of which 
grow some hemlocks, declining aci'oss the stream with out- 
stretched arms as if resolute to take the plunge.' Only a few^ 
are left now ; some, as our friend said, bent every year closer 
and closer to the water, and the quiet stream lapped the earth 
at their roots, till one by one they silently dropped into the 
river and floated away. Others did not have tliat peaceful 
death, but were cut clean away to make room for the new 
railroad which has replaced them by a staring bank of yellow 
sand, making a long, aggressive scar on the beautiful shore. 
Healing hands of artist and poet have set willows thick in 
the sand, and soon the unsightly bank will be green and soft, 
though the hemlocks can never grow again. It might have 
been our day on the river that Hawthorne wrote about. For 
us, too, ' the windino^ course of the stream continuallv shut 
out the scene behind us and revealed as calm and lovely a one 
before. We glided from depth to depth, and breathed new 



THE RIVER AND SURROUXDIXGS. 189 

seclusion at every turn. The shy kingfisher flew from the with- 
ered branch close at hand to another at a distance, uttering 
a slirill cry of anofer or alarm. Ducks tliat had been floatino- 
there since tlie preceding eve were startled at our approach, and 
skimmed along the grassy river, breaking its dark surface with 
a briglit streak. The turtle, sunning itself upon a rock or at 
the root of a tree, slid suddenh' into the water witli a plunge.' 
But we saw one conoreg-ation of seven turtles on a fallen tree 
out in the river; and they went on sunning themselves and 
never minded us at all, but disappeai'ed in a flash, or rather 
in seven flashes, when a boatload of boys paddled up to them 
with a whoop of delight. 

'' Like Hawthorne, we, too, found in July the prophecy of 
autumn. X few tall maples were the color of the purple beech 
a lare color for maples to take on, and fallen crimson leaves 
flecked the water liere and tliere, and the golden-rods were mar- 
shalled in stately ranks just ready to unfold their superb yellow 
])lumes: and with all the peace and beauty came, too, the 
' half-acknowledofed melancholv,' the feelino- 'that Time has 
now o-iven us all his flowers, and that the next work of his 
never idle flngfers must be to steal them one bv one awav.' 

" Concord is rich in wild-flowers and meadow grasses ; and 
when one sums up its charms of philosophy and literature, art 
and nature, in addition to some of the most delightful people 
in the world, the story seems a little fabulous: but it is all 
true." 

Like most romantic rivers, the Assabet has its dangers, being 
full of rocks. Just before reaching the hemlocks a ledge lies 



igo THE CONCORD GUIDE BOOK. 

near the middle of the stream ; at the next bend, opposite Water- 
melon Cove, four large rocks are near the riglit bank, and two 
others are under the Black Willow, and two at the left, another 
is behind Gibraltar, and the channel behind Bird's-nest Island 
has two others; from this point it is well to keej) on tlje left 
side of the river until the two oaks are past, and then to keep 
the middle of the stream, avoiding a large rock just below^ the 
mouth of Spencer Brook. Passing under the second abut- 
ment of tlie bridge, a ledge occupies tlie middle of the river, 
after which it is quite navigable until the covered railroad 
brido-e two miles distant, above and below winch ai-e manv 
treachei'ous shoals within the distance of a few I'ods. I"i-om 
the hemlocks to Bird's-nest Island two graceful curves make 
fine views which are constantly sketched bv artists. I'wo rods 
above the railroad culvert a Avell-worn path leads to a hue 
spring. Gibraltar is a large rock in tlie nnddle of the river 
opposite the estate of Edward W. Emerson, whose studio is 
on the bluff in front of his house. Bird's-nest Island, around 
which the Assabet divides, is a few rods above, and tlie two 
oaks, the former trysting-place of Concord until one of the 
trees w^as cut off in its prime by lightning. The mouth of 
Spencer Brook is just below the bridge on the left, which is 
often spoken of by Thoreau and others, for its abrupt turn:^ 
make its ascent difficult in summer time. The tall grasses 
overhanor botli banks so tliat the canoe seems to be Q-lidiuQ* over 
the meadow. The pond which supplies Spencer Brook runs 
two very old mills for grinding corn and sawing lumber. The 
Assabet above the brook has high banks upon the right, and 



CD 




THE KIV'ER AND SURROUNDINGS. 191 

meadows upon the left. At the upper end of the bank, near 
the one-arched bridge, several summer houses have been built. 
Ascending the river after passing the Reformatory, the viUage 
of Concord Junction stands u[)on the right bank al)ove the 
Fitcliburor railroad brido-e: on the left, near the handsome Stone 
Brido"e, is the extensive harness factorv of jNIr. Harvev Wheeler ; 
and a short distance above, the Old Colony Railroad crosses 
the river. Between this bridge and the Damon factory at 
West vale the scenery is very picturesque ; great rocks and 
hio-ii banks overhunof with noble trees make tliis ))art of the 
river as beautiful as it is retired. Large villages have grown 
up about the Reformatory, Concord Junction, and Damon's 
factory, and flourishing schools and churches occupy good 
buildings. The dam at Mr. Damon's factory puts an end to 
the Concord canoe voyages on the Assabet. 

Going down the Concord River again from the old 
canoe-house, behind which the Old ^Nlanse stands in the orchard 
which Hawthorne wi-ote of, we pass the field which Thoreau 
said was full of the traces of Indian camps, and glide under 
the old North Bridw, now a cause wav of American historv. 

The boathouse on the right was built by the Ivev. (leorge 
Simmons, and his son Edward was born in the house which 
stands near. Mr. Edward Simmons has taken high rank as a 
painter, having won prizes in the foreign academies as well 
as in America, especially the largest award for designing the 
decorations for the New York Court House. In the middle of 
the river, opposite the end of the next wall, is a very large rock 
on which many a canoe voyage has ended. With the exception 



192 THE CONCORD GUIDE BOOK. 

of a small rock just below the Stone Bridge, and anotlier at 
Barrett's ford, both close to the left bank, no rocks impede the 
navigation for ten miles until the iron bridge is reached. The 
first hill on the right below Mr. Simmons's boathouse is Honey- 
suckle Island, a favorite resort of the children in their search 
for flowers ; opposite is Buttrick's Cove, where in ancient 
times great quantities of shad were taken. 

The Stone Bridge, built by Hiram Blaisdell, is just below, 
and the Y ti-ee on the right bank is a landmark to the canoist, 
and also shows the place at which the boys go to swim. From 
this tree the most direct course down river is to run for the 
oak on the left bank, a quarter of a mile below. This tree 
has a literary and melancholy interest ; for under it the hat and 
shawl of the young lady were found by Hawthorne and Curtis, 
when they were searching the river in Thoreau's boat, to dis- 
cover the body of the unfortunate girl. This scene made such 
a deep impression on the mind of the morbid genius that he 
gave a most vivid description of the sad details in the " Blithe- 
dale Romance." Mr. G. W. Curtis lived for two years in the 
house in plain sight on the hill jibove the oak-tree. He came 
to Concord when about twenty years of age. and worked hard 
on the farm at all sorts of labor. He often drove loads of hay 
across the river at the ford just below, and guided the patient 
oxen with the same irresistible skill with whicli he used 
afterward to lead his eager thousands of enraptured audi- 
ences. He delivered the address when the Minute INIan was 
unveiled in 1875; and another Brook-Farm boy, Gen. F. C. 
Barlow« led the grand array of witnesses to the ceremony, 



7 HE RIVER AND SURROUXDINGS. 193 

including liis old leader, Gen. Grant, and nearly every noted 
man in the States. When Brook Farm changed its first plan, 
many scholars came to seek Concord culture, and Gen. Barlow 
spent his boyhood in that eccentric village, f^idisting as a 
private he rapidly rose to be one of the youngest major-generals 
ill the army. Miss Marianne Ripley built the house on the hill 
in plain sight of the old oak-tree, and Minot Pratt bought the 
large farm near. 

Mr. Pi'att was a scientific botanist and nature lover, and 
has filled the river and by-places of the town with rare 
plants and shrul)s. most of which can 1)6 found near this 
spot. The yellow iris, the tra})pa natans, or edible water- 
chestnut, tlie Marsilea quadrifolia, the only water-fern, keep 
his gentle memory green from earliest springtime till au- 
ttimn's radiant banner fades. Among the other native water- 
plants are the pondeteria, arrow-head, the small nuphar, the 
potomageton, the water-crowfoot, and the purple pink, yellow 
and drifting utricttlaria, and the limnanthemum or floating- 
heart described in verse above. The boathouse of the Rev. 
Charles Hutchins is at Barrett's ford just below, which forms 
a part of his extensive farm which comj^rises a large j^art 
of Punkatasset Hill. This fine estate is now kept ii[) to 
the highest standard of cultivation, under tlie supervision 
of this noted clergyman and musical author. This farm was 
the former home of Capt. Nathan Barrett, who did such 
gallant service at Concord Fight, and in the Htmt house in 
tlie adjoining lot, the minute-men were furnished with break- 
fast before going down to the Bridge. Both the Hunt and 



194 THE CONCORD GUIDE BOOK. 

Barrett farms lie along the river on the left bank, as also 
do the three farms originally owned by the Bottricks. Each 
of the owners served at the Bridge Figlit under the gallant 
major of the same family. On the lower farm stands Dakin's 
Hill, the favorite picnic resort of the Concord canoist. 
From tliis hill can l)e liad an extensive view of the great 
meadows, which extend for miles along the right side of the 
river, and of the famous water-maples which bend above it. 
Next to Dakin's Hill, on the left bank, the hills and woods 
owned by Prof. William Brewster of Cambridge afford a 
safe asylum for the l)irds wliich he loves, and of whose habits 
lie is the best authority in America. At Ball Hill, in the 
center of his domain, Mr. Brewster spends much of liis time 
in a picturesque hut built into the bank near the river. In 
his preserves, every plant whicli will grow there finds a liome. 
Ball Hill is laid out with paths, and vistas have been cut 
which command fine views of the river, from the famous 
horseshoe bend down to the boundaries of Bedford and 
Carlisle. After passing Ball Hill the small house can be 
seen at the left, from which Benjamin Ball is said to have 
departed for the battle of Bunker Hill, wliere lie lost his 
life. The river curves about Holden Hill, also the property 
of Mr. Brewster, and then runs in a straight course beyond 
the limits of the town. Near the river bank the proprietor 
has placed signs requesting visitors not to build tires or use 
fire-arms, and the birds and animals gather there in large 
numbers, as to a place of safety. 

To establish the fact that Concord was the first to originate 



THE RIVER AND SURROUXDE\'GS. 195 

the carnival of lioats, wliirli lias become 80 universal that it 
has been abandoned here in favor of newer ideas, this eai'ly 
account is copied from a magazine of fifteen years since. 

CARNIVAL OF THE BOATS. 

" At the a[)pointed time the bridges and banks were covered 
with anxious spectators, as the boats promptly assembled and 
took their appointed places in the line. On they came, dow^n 
tlie open Sudbury, and from 1)eneath tlie leafy arches of the 
Assabet, ^vllere the ofreat hemlocks reach over to see their 
reflections in the black water. 

'^ Mr. J. L. Gilmore had been selected as marshal : and meet- 
ing his aids in their light wherries, or birch canoes, he led 
off the glittering train promptly and without confnsion. The 
new moon was fortunately obscured by a heavy cloud, and 
dense blackness hung over the river until the 2)rocession drew 
near, wlien sky and water were lighted u[) with ten thousand 
rainbows. ]\hxnv of the larofe boats carried lanterns of red 
and green hung over the bow, close to the watei". All had 
higli frames from which Chinese lanterns of many hues dangled 
and danced with the motions of the oars. 

'' One graceful Whitehall boat was ornamented in truly 
Japanese style, as a long bamboo rod projected from stem to 
stern huno- with lanterns of gfraduated sizes. One blue-and- 
white dory was adorned with t^^'enty-seven In'illiant lanterns, 
and was rowed by a young lady, while the owner sat in the 
bow and burned gold fire in a large pan. A great l)lack-and- 
yellow di)ry bore a huge transparency representing the old 



196 THE CONCORD GUIDE BOOK. 

bridge and the Liberty Bell, while a neat boat from the 
Hndson had a great crystal shield with appropriate device. 
The cedar wherry, the pride of the river, was as graceful as 
ever in its adornment ; and the boats from the North Bridge 
were perfectly gorgeous with lanterns of gelatine and paper, 
Roman candles, and brilliant fires of many hues. The place 
of honor in front was, however, allotted to a low white boat, 
having a handsome boy in costume at tlie bow, and a lovely 
blonde from the South at the helm, with tri-colored gelatine 
lanterns surrounding her fair head. 

'' Thus led, they glide solemnly under the dark bridge and 
turn around a sharp bend till they see in surprise the bridge 
between the two monuments appear in lines of colored light, 
as its graceful outlines have been closely decorated by lanterns 
of many kinds; and as the marshal's boat ^passes under it, 
a volley of rockets s[)ring up from Honeysuckle Island, and 
fireworks of varied kinds follow until the long array of boats 
has countermarched through the new Stone Bridge, and as- 
sembled in a glittering crowd below the Minute Man, which 
stands out from the darkness in its wondrous strength and 
grace, by the fitful ghire of the changing light. 

" The spectators who crowd the high banks on each side 
pronounce the spectacle unsurpassed by anything they have 
seen, as at a little distance the boats are only distinguished 
by the outlines of light, and the reflections above and below 
seem to blend together in rainbows." 



INDEX. 



Alcott, A. Bronson, 105-113. 
Alcott, Louisa M., 114-116. 
Ricketson's bust of, 17. 
Alcott, Mrs., 113. 

Alcott Chiklreu's playgi-ound, the, 20. 
Alcott Family, graves of, 42. 
Alcott House, 14 (see, also, Wayside). 
Andersen, Kev. J. P., 30. 
Antiquarian Society (see Concord). 
Arlington, 14. 
Arlington Heights, 14. 
Assabet River, the, 11, 185. 

Ball Hill, 12, 25, 194. 

Ball Hill farmhouse, 62. 

B. C. & W. Club, 152. 

Barrett, Edwin S., house of, 183. 

Barrett, Col. James, house of. 62. 

Barrett, Capt. Nathan, house of, 02. 

Barrett house, the Dr., 59. 

Barlow, Gen. F. C, 192. 

Bartlett, George B., Canoe house, 184. 

Bartlett, Dr. Josiah, grave of, 38. 

Battle ground, the, 45. 

Road to, 17. 
Battlelawn, 183. 
Battle monument, the, 138. 
Beal house, the, 56. 
Bedford, 12, 13. 
Bedford Springs, 13. 
Belmont, 10. 
Bigelo'.v's Tavern, 65. 
Bird's Nest Island, 190. 
Bliss. Rev. Mr., 29. 
Block houses, old, 27. 
Boston, trip from, to Concord, 9. 
Boston, trip to, from Concord. 11. 
Bowles, Frank, his " Piues," 179. 



Black Willow, the, 190. 
Brooks, Nathan, grave of. 37. 
Brown, Capt., house of, 74. 
Brown, Dr. Ezekiel, 55. 
Brown, Reuben, shop of, 56. 
Brewster, William, 25. 
Bryant, Orpha, gravestone, 34. 
Bulkley, Rev. Edward, 24. 
Bulkley, Rev. Peter, IS, 28. 
Bulkley Tablet, the, 70. 
Buel, E. W., :0. 
Bunker Hill Monument, 9. 
Burial Ground on Main Street, 35. 
Burying Hill, 18, 30. 

Old graves on, 18, 19, CO. 
Buttrick, Major, house of, 18, 01. 
Buttrick (Samuel, Joseph, Daniel), 
houses of, 62. 

Cambridge, 10. 

Campbell, Rev. Walter, .30. 

Canny, Rev. P. J., 30. 

Carnival of the Boats, 195. 

Charles River, the, 10. 

Channing, W. E., 100. 

Cheney, John M., grave of, 37. 

Church, the Old, 27. 

Clark, Mrs. Julia, house of, 74. 

Codman estate, tlie, 11. 

Concord, celebration of 250th anniver- 
sary, 06. 

Concord, name of, 26. 

Concord Antiquarian Society, house of, 
19, 74. 148. 

Concord Artillery, the, 159. 

Concord Bank, the, 161. 

Concord Canoe Club. 24, 177. 

Concord Charitable Society, 152. 



197 



198 



IXDEX, 



Concord Fire Society. 152. 
Concord Grape, the. 20, 126-128. 
Concoi-d Home for tlie Aged, 1G5. 
Concord Home School, 23. 
Concord Lyceum, the, 1G3. 
Concord Public Library, the, 120-137. 
Concord River, boating on, 24, 173. 
Concord Square. 17. 
Concord Water ^Yorks, 22. 
Copau. 12. 

Cunnnings, Dr., house of, CO. 
Curtis, George W., 121. 

Dakiu's Hill. 104. 

Davis, Capt. Isa;ic, spot where he fell, (Jl. 

Derby, J., house of, 61. 

Dramatic Club. the. 165. 

Dudley, Abigail, gravestone, 33. 

Egg Rock, 173. 

Egg Rock Tablet, C8. 60. 

Emerson, Edward W., house of, 190. 

Emerson, Ralph Waldo, house of, 74, 79-31. 

Grave of, 37. 
Emerson Rev. William. 29, 52. 
Emerson School, the. 163. 
Esterbrook, Rev. Joseph, 29. 

Fairhaven Bay, 174. 

Fairhaven Hill, 178. - 

Fairyland. 109. 

First Church, the (see The Old Church). 

First Settler's Tablet, 71. 

Fox house, the, 59. 

French, Daniel Chester, 139, 146. 

Frost, Rev. B., 29. 

Garland. James S., 23. 

Gibraltar, 190. 

Goddard, ^Irs. Delano, on the Concord River, 

187. 
Goodwin, Rev. H. B., 29. 
Grand Army of the Republic, 145. 
Grant's elm tree, Lexington, 13. 
Grant. Rev. Henry ^L, Memorial to, 29. 
Graves of British Soldiers' Memorial, 140. 

Harris, Dr. William T., 116. 
Hartshorn, Thomas, gravestone of, 17. 
Harvard College, site of, 64. 



Harvard University, 10. 
Hastings C)rgan Works, 11. 
Hawthorne, Nathaniel, grave of, 37. 
HaAvthorne, Nathaniel, house of (see 

Wayside). 
Heath's Bridge, 179. 
Heywood, George, house of. 56. 
"History of a Concord Farm," the. 22. 
Hoar, Elizabeth, gravestone. 42. 
Hoar, Hon. E. R., 104. 

Grave of, 42. 
Hoar. Hon. G. F., 123. 
Hoar. Samuel, house of, 103. 

Monument to, 38. 
Hosmer, Abel, house of, 60. 
Hosmer, Adjutant, house of, CO. 
Hosmer, Joseph, house of, 59. 
Holbrook, :Mrs. 3Iaria, 43. 
Holden Hill, 194. 
Hunt house, the, 62. 
Hunt, Dr. Joseph, house of, 56. 
Hunt, William. 65. 

Descendants of, 66. 
Hurd, C. H., 182. 
Hutchins, Rev. Charles, 193. 

Institution of Masonry, the, 160. 

Jack, John, gravestone, 30, 31. 
Jones, Elisha, house of (see Keys house). 
J»ne#. John, 28. 
Jethro's Oak, site of, 26. 

Kendall Green, 11. 
Keys house, the, 60. 
Keys, J. M., Canoe house of, 183. 
Lathrop, George Parsons, 96 (see, also, 
Wayside'^^. 

Lee house, the. 74. 

Lee, Jonas, house of, 59. 

Lee, the Tory, 64. 

Lexington, 13. 14. 

Lexington Common, 13. 

Liberty Street, IS. 

Library, the Concord, 17. 

Lincoln station, 11. 

" Little Women," house of the, 75. 

Lothrop. Daniel, 99 (see. also, Wayside). 

Lothrop, Marg'et, 99 (see, also, Wayside). 



IXDEX. 



199 



Mt. Auburn Cemetery, 10. 

Martha's i'oiiit, 177. 

iSIasoiiic Lodges (see Inst, of Masonry). 

Massachusetts lieformatory, the, 11, 191. 

^Nlerriain's Corner, 20. 

Merriam"s Corner Tablet, 74, 75. 

Merriam, Joseph, ^lonuraent. 30. 

Merriam house, the old, 21. 50. 

Mitldlesex Agricultural Society, 155. 

^liddlesex Mutual Fire Ins. Co., 151. 

3Iine Hill, 174. 

3Iinute Man, the, 11, 130. 

^Minute lien's Tablet, 75, 7G. 

Morlarty, Rev. Edward J., 30. 

INIunroe station, 14. 

Munioe, William, 125, 12C. 

Nashawtuck Canoe Housp, 184. 
Kine-Acre Corner, IfO. 
Nineteenth of April, the, 140. 
North Bridge, the, 191. 
Norumbega Tower, 10. 

Old Manse, the, 11,81,87. 
Old 3Ianse, road to, 17. 
Old North Bridge, the, 139. 
Orchard Hou.«e, the (in which the Alcotts 
lived), 20, 104. 

Peabody, Elizabeth P., 100. 

Ponkawtassett Hill, 61. 

Porter's Tavern, 10. 

Pratt, Mrs. ("Meg" in "Little Women"), 

home of, 14. 
Pratt, Minot, farm of, 18, 103. 
Prescott, Col. Geo. L., monument to, 37. 
Priehard, William M. (Gateway to Sleepy 

Hollow). IS. 
Provincial Congress Tablet, 73. 

Rice. R. N., house of, 65. 
Ricketson, Walton, studio of. 24. 

His bust of IVIiss Alcott, 17. 
Ridge Path, Sleepy Hollow, 37. 
Ripley, Rev. Ezra. 29. 45. 
Ripley Monument, Sleepy Hollow, 37, 38. 
Ripley School. 22. 
Red Bridge, the. 184. 
Red Wing, the (canoe), 184. 



Reformatory, the (see Massachusetts). 
Reynolds, Rev. Grindall, 29, 123-125. 
Revere, Paul, ride of, 9. 
Robbins, Mrs. Anna, 43. 
Roberts Station, 10. 
Robinson, William S., 119, 120. 
Roman Catholic Church (St. Bernard's), 
30. 

Sandy Pond, 162. 

Sanborn, F. B., 117-119. 

Saturday Clul), the, 1G5. 

Scandinavian Methodist Church, 30. 

School of Philosophy, the, 75, 117, 1.55. 

Shady Hill Nursery, 13. 

Shepard's Tavern, 65. 

Sidney, Margaret, 99 (see, also. Wayside). 

Simmons, Edward, 25, 191. 

Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, 35 ; 

Decoration of, 36 ; 

Graves in, 37; 

Road to, 18. 
Social Circle, the, 164. 
Soldiers' Monument, the, 17, 140. 
South Bridge, ISO. 
Southmayd, Rev. Daniel, 29. 
Spencer Brook, 190. 
Spy Pon.l, 14. 
Squaw Sachem, the, 69. 
Staples, Samuel. 65. 
Stone Bridge, l.-O, 192. 
Stony Brook station, 11. 
Sudbury River, 174. 
Surgeon's house, the, 74. 

Tewksbury, Rev. Geo. A., 29. 
Thoreau, Henry D., haunts of, 12 ; 

House of, 14, 100-103; 

Birthplace of, 103 ; 

Memorial of, 103. 

Grave of. 37. 
Thoreau's Cairn at Walden, 172. 
Thoreau's Grove at Walden. road to, 21. 
Thoreau House (public), 17. 
Thoreau street. 21. 
Tolman, George, inscriptions collected 

by. 44. 
Tolman house, the. .55. 
Town Hall, the, 145. 



200 



INDEX. 



Town House Tablet, 70, 71. 
Trinitarian Congregational Church, 29. 
Trinity Church (Prot. Episcopal), 30. 
Trowbridge, J. T., home of, 14. 
Tuttle house, the, 50. 

Uuderhill, Orlando H., memorial to, 30. 
Union Church (Concord Junction), oO. 
Unitarian Church, 27. 

Vose house, the, 59. 

Walden Lake, 11. 16G. 

AValden Picnic Grounds, 21, 170. 

Walden Woods, 100. 

"Warren, George, 1S5. 

" Warrington " (see Robinson. "W. S.). 

"Watermelon Cove. 190. 

"W'althani "^'atch factory, the, 10. 

Washington Elm, the, 10. 



Water Supply, the, 162. 

Waverly, 10. 

Waverly Oaks, the, 10. 

Wayside, the, 20, 75, 87-100. 

West vale, 191. 

Wheeler house, the, 59. 

Wheildou, William W., 121. 

Whiting, Kev. INIr., 20. 

Whiting, William, 122. 

Whiting ^lonument, Sleepy Hollow, 37. 

White Pond, 179. 

Whittaker house, the, G2. 

Willard Common, 22. 

Willard House, the, 64. 

Willard Tablet, the, 67. 

Winthrop farm, the, 183. 

Wood, Ephraim, house of, 60. 

Wright, George, 174. 

Wright Tavern, the, 19, 54, 73, 74. 



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